


Operation: Interrogation

by trashcan_with_a_plan



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action, Akuma Battle, DJWifi, Dare, Don't Judge Me, F/M, Feels, Field Trip, Floor is Lava, Fluff, How Did I Get Here?, Humor, Hurt Adrien Agreste, I Ship It, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Identity Reveal, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Freaks Out, Nino is recording, Plagg has a plan, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Reveal, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, What Have I Done, adrien gets to be a normal kid, adrien injured (kinda), adrien just needs to sleep, adrienette - Freeform, cat noir tries, class teasing, failure - Freeform, kim gets soaked, kim injured (kinda), let's see how far I can stretch this, patrol shenanigans, secret admierer, this entire fic just kind of EVOLVED without me, this fic has consumed my soul, this went further than I thought
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-05-26 17:19:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 38,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15005636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashcan_with_a_plan/pseuds/trashcan_with_a_plan
Summary: SUBJECT: Marinette Dupain ChengSETTING: Retail Clothing StoreOPPERATORS: Alix, Kim, Alya, Adrien and companyOBJECTIVE: Get Marinette to give up her earrings... or take them by forceThe reveal that starts with a sucker punch to the gut, a video camera, and stubborn friends. Let's watch this spiral out of control, shall we?Check out art by a super talented reader/artist on Tumblr! https://fifidrawz.tumblr.com/





	1. Chapter 1

“Come on, come on, come on!” Mylene and Rose called, dashing up the school's front steps. Juleka, Alya, and Marinette followed, grinning excitedly to each other as they pounded up the stairs at a slower pace.

  
A few days ago, Ms. Bustier had given the class permission slips detailing their newest field trip: a self-guided tour of Paris. Of course, this wasn't as exciting for the students as it could have been (the majority of the students lived in downtown Paris, after all) but the idea of skipping school for a day to be with friends in the best city in the world? The offer held a certain appeal that nobody could refuse. Of course the field trip was accompanied by a project on Parisian culture, but the students were excited nonetheless.

  
Marinette pulled her permission slip out of her bag as they halted by the front door, double checking the itinerary. "Girls, it says here that we meet up at the classroom first." She mumbled more to herself than the girls around her. "Then, to the Seine. Then the thrift store-"

  
"Why a thrift store? Aren't there fancier places we could go for the fashion portion of the project?" Alya interrupted. Mylene tried peering over Marinette's shoulder to see the schedule, but as she was too short, ended up just standing next to the bluenette instead.

  
"Most other stores aren't big enough to hold our entire class. Besides," Marinette shrugged, addressing the rest of the group. "With a thrift store, if we break something, it won't be as expensive as in other boutiques."

  
"With our class's habit of becoming destructive supervillains? I'd say that was a good point." A voice sounded behind them. The girls turned to see Alix skating up the steps up towards them, Kim and Max a few paces behind her.

  
"Yeah, no kidding!" Kim smirked at the group, rolling up his sleeves as Max pulled out his calculator.

  
"The chances of an akuma attack on this trip, if you add in the amount of students we have, lunch breaks, assume that a singular person can be akumatized multiple times, and multiply by two if Chloe shows up..." Max pounded a few buttons, grinning proudly as he held out the device and showed his friends the end result. "There is a twenty-eight point five chance of akumatization in our class."

  
"What about anywhere else in Paris?" Rose asked, sending Max pounding on the number pad again.

  
"Or that Adrien and Marinette haven't been akumatized yet?" Juleka added, fiddling with a strand of hair. Max paused, everyone's eyes trained curiously on Marinette.

  
"Marinette and Adrien haven't been akumatized yet?" Alix looked at the now slightly squirming bluenette with a new sense of respect. "Especially with how Chloe treats you? That's pretty hardcore!"

  
"Well! What can I say! I'm just really good at handling my emotions! Ha! Ha! Ha! Oh, and would you look at the time!" Marinette jerked her arm up and down quickly, the speed making her wrist a blur. "Almost nine thirty! Don't want to be late!"

  
With that, Marinette ushered her slightly confused classmates up the stairs to her classroom, praying that it truly was close to nine-thirty, and that nobody noticed her watchless wrist.

 

 

"Alright, students!" Ms. Bustier neatly stacked the parent permission slips on her desk, then clapped her hands. "Just as a reminder, who can tell us the schedule for today? How about... Nathaniel?"

  
The red heat flushed red, then raised his head slightly. "First we walk down to the Seine, then we go to the thrift store, then the Eiffel Tower, lunch, and finally the park by the school."

  
Kim groaned, slapping his hands on the desk in front of him. "Can't we have lunch first? I need to beef up for my race tomorrow!"

  
Alix snickered, muttering, "Yeah, Kim, you need all the help you can get!"

  
"Oh you think so, Kubdel?" Kim turned to glare sassily at his friend, his voice raising slightly.

  
"Oh I know so, punk!"

  
"How about a bet then!'

  
"You're on-"

"Kim! Alix!" Ms. Bustier sighed in exasperation, smiling faintly at her students' antics. "How about we make bets after we go over the rules?" Not waiting for her students to respond, Ivan was called on to recite the rules: using the buddy system, not leaving the group, being respectful of property and people, and making sure each group gathered enough materials to successfully complete their Parisian culture project. Once Ms. Bustier got her entire class (even Chloe) to verbally agree to follow the rules, the red-headed teacher lead her students out of the classroom, into the hall, and down the stairs. Once out of the classroom, Marinette and Alya (who was bouncing up and down excitedly, staring at her phone) waited by the door for Nino and Adrien, who came out last.

  
"Hey, girls!" Nino tried to sling his arm around Alya's shoulders, but her bouncing made it difficult.

  
"Hey, guys! Guess what?!" Alya shoved her phone in Adrien, Nino, and Marinette's faces, grinning proudly. "Guess who was just given a France Teen Choice Award nomination for best website!"

  
"No way!" Marinette grabbed the phone, yanking it out of her friend's grip, bringing it close to her eyes. "Alya, this is great- hey give it back!"

  
Adrien had yanked it out of the bluenette's hand, copying her as he brought the screen up to his face. He moved his back to Marinette, who was trying to yank the phone back (but as she was about a head shorter than the blonde, it didn't work). "Wow, Alya! When do you find out if you won?"

  
"At the end of the month! Everyone has to vote," Alya explained excitedly, taking her phone back as the friends continued walking, now very far behind their class. "You get ten votes a day, and every vote counts!"

  
"I just know you're gonna win, Als!" Nino cheered, fist pumping. His girlfriend beamed at him as she bopped him on the nose. Alya was absolutely convinced that Ladybug bopping Cat Noir on the nose was a sign of the heroine's love for her partner, replicated it, and always enjoyed Nino's blush as the effect.

  
"Only if I can get enough votes! So start sendin' em in!"

  
Marinette and Adrien smirked at each other, rolling their eyes at Nino's flushed face. Marinette and Adrien had gotten much closer recently, to the point where Marinette could participate in and even initiate a conversation without stumbling or switching up her words. It was an achievement that Marinette was immensely proud of, especially when their respective best friends' attention was only for each other. To be honest, Marinette's crush on the model had reduced in the past months to almost nothing. She told herself she didn't like anybody anymore, but deep down, Marinette knew she was lying. Especially when she started giggling at Cat Noir's stupid jokes...

  
"Sending what in?" Ivan interrupted, approaching the group, jarring Marinette out of her train of thought. Ms. Bustier had sent him to make sure the rest of her students caught up with the group. Quickening their pace, Alya explained the nomination to her large classmate. When the rest of the class heard, she spent the rest of the walk down to the Seine being swamped by curious classmates, explaining the voting process, accepting vote promises and congratulations, and chatting excitedly about the blog.

  
Ms. Bustier stopped the class at a bridge crossing the Seine. "Alright, everyone, for the Seine part of your project make sure you have plenty of pictures and trivia to add to the presentation! Everyone meet up with your groups and discuss a game plan. You have twenty minutes to get as much done as possible! Remember that the best presentation wins the prize; a pizza party!"

  
Immediately the students broke into groups: Alya, Marinette, Rose, and Juleka were in the first group. Ivan, Mylene, Max, and Nathaniel were in the second. Kim, Alix, Nino, and Adrien were in the third. Chloe and Sabrina made up the fourth group, to everyone's relief.

  
Alya pounded her fist into her open hand. "Alright, to be honest, I _completely_ forgot what we were supposed to do, I've been focused on the Ladyblog, especially with all of the recent akuma attacks this week... I can't believe there were three yesterday! And two the day before!"

  
Marinette shook her head, trying to not look as exhausted as she felt. After all, she was the one fighting all those akumas. "It's only Wednesday and there have been five akuma attacks!"  
"I know, I've been going crazy trying to film them all-"

  
"Anyways!" Juleka interrupted, "The timer is ticking! Remember, we have to make a presentation on Parisian culture based on the places we go, all using original pictures with us in them. Let's make sure we get tons of photos so we don't have to do it later."

  
Rose nodded in agreement. "Marinette, can we put the poster together at your house? You have the most art supplies, and your parents are so nice! They bake the best macaroons!"

  
Marinette obliged, and the team leapt into action. The girls divvied up responsibilities, then split up; Rose and Juleka ran to take pictures while Marinette and Alya raced to an information booth. The next twenty minutes were spent jotting down any fact that might be useful to the presentation. Anything from water pH level to the Seine's length to how many bridges crossed the river was recorded on a notepad.

  
Meanwhile, Adrien and Nino's group was handling things a little less... systematically.

  
"Kim, I bet you wouldn't jump into the water!" Alix leaned over the railing from the walkway she stood on. The group stood where Alya had been akumatized at the beginning of the year, looking over into the water.

  
"Really, Alix?" The boy snorted, peering into the water barely a foot below. "Of course I would jump in!"

  
"Prove it!"

"Well, I can't!"

"Why not? Is the swim champion scared of the water?"

"In your dreams! I don't have my swimming suit, and my phone is in my pocket-"

The athlete continued to ramble, unaware of a mischevious blonde sneaking up behind him, silent as a... well, a cat. Sending a cocky wink Alix's way, Adrien held his hands with his palms facing Kim's back. Nino held his camera at the ready, stifling a snigger in his other hand. Kim continued obliviously, still peering into the water.

"... and I want to be dry to help out with the project and the race is tomorrow- W-W-WHa- HEY ADRI-!"

With one swift motion Adrien scooped Kim's phone out of his pocket, planted his hands on the back of his friend's back, and shoved Kim into the river. With an almighty splash, Kim disappeared into the water. Alix collapsed, howling with laughter as Kim resurfaced. "ADRIEN!" The soaked teenager spluttered, flailing his arms with his eyes closed as he reached for the side of the walkway, trying to hoist himself up. Kim's hands were slippery, so he had to try multiple times.

Adrien had to sit down he was laughing so hard, his green eyes gleaming with mirth. Alix, who still hadn't regained herself, slapped Adrien's hand in a high five. Nino skipped over to Kim, who was drenched and shivering on all fours, and held his camera in the boy's face cheerfully. "Smile!"  
Nino cackled as he reviewed the picture. Kim's indignant expression was enough to reduce Adrien back into a fit of laughter, rolling on the sidewalk as tears of laughter blurred his vision.

"Agreste!" Kim bellowed, rising shakily with a crazy grin on his face. Adrien immediately froze. He heard this tone of voice plenty of times during akuma attacks that he knew exactly the best course of action to take:

Run.

"AGRESTE YOU BETTER GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Kim screamed as the blonde darted to his feet and bolted away.

"WHY?" Adrien called over his shoulder, smirking to himself. It wasn't often Adrien got to just goof off, and even though it had envoked Kim's wrath, it still felt good to have fun in his civilian life.

"SO I CAN SKIN YOU ALIVE AND THROW YOU IN THE SEINE!"

"TWO FOR ONE SPECIAL? GREAT OFFER, BUT NO THANKS!"

"I WON FIRST AT DISTRICTS HUNDRED METER SPRINTS! YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER!"

_Or can I?_ Adrien thought smugly to himself. He bolted up the stairs, with Kim hot on heels. Nino was still admiring the picture of Kim, sending it to every contact on his list and setting it as his wallpaper. Alix had regained herself enough to pursue the two boys, skating after them as well as she could with puddles of water in her way and doubling over every few minutes in gleeful laughter.  
Adrien rounded a corner, sprinting to where he knew Ms. Bustier was last. Of course Adrien wasn't scared of Kim; after all, he had faced akumas that were _hundreds_ of times scarier than his classmate as Cat Noir on an almost daily basis. However, Adrien hadn't, at least not to anybody's knowledge (except for the napping kwami inside of his pocket). So, Adrien's best bet for not being skinned alive was finding Ms. Bustier before Kim's clothes dried.

Ms. Bustier, who was helping an overwhelmed Sabrina and ungrateful Chloe, turned around at the sound of shouting and the pounding of feet. "Hello, students! You're just in time..." The teacher trailed off as her students sprinted closer. Adrien, who was sprinting as if his life depended on it, was laughing so hard his face gleamed with tears. A few meters back, Kim plodded along, dripping from head to toe as he cursed at the blonde in front of him. Alix followed, skating along at a medium pace as she shouted for Adrien to keep running, he was almost to safety. Nino was last, jogging at a slower pace as he held his phone steady enough to videotape the race ahead of him.

"Hi Ms... Ms... Bustier!" Adrien panted, coming to a halt beside his teacher. "Lovely weather out, isn't it?" He smiled innocently, his eyes widening to the biggest kitten eyes Ms. Bustier had ever seen.... as a teacher, that was saying something.

Kim skidded to a halt, gasping for hair with his hands on his faintly drying knees. When he had caught his breath, he straightened up. Opening his mouth to speak, Kim was cut off when Adrien handed him his phone, completely dry.

"Boys? Do you want to tell me what happened?" Ms. Bustier's eyes flickered between the boys, leaning back slightly as if expecting an explosion. She in no way expected Kim to start laughing.

"We never speak of this again, deal?" Kim stuck out a hand, and Adrien shook it as Alix and Nino joined the group, out of breath. "Of course I'll get you back eventually..."

"Sure you will," Adrien smirked, releasing Kim's hand and folding his arms.

Ms. Bustier rolled her eyes in bemusement and turned back to Chloe and Sabrina, who were eyeing their classmates with disdain.

"Alright, girls, times up. Just take a picture or something, we need to move on." The teacher blew a small whistle around her neck, and a few minutes later the rest of her students joined the group. "I hope everybody got plenty of pictures, and..."

Adrien elbowed Nino, leaning over to mutter quietly while Ms. Bustier continued. "I think we got plenty, dontcha think?"

Nino snickered and elbowed his best bud back, and they turned their attention back to their teacher.  
"... and finally, do not buy anything you do not have the money for. Remember, each member of the group must be photographed in at least one outfit!"

With that, Ms. Bustier led her students away from the Seine and down the street.

Ms. Bustier and her students stopped by a large retail clothing store. Holding the door open for her students, Ms. Bustier reminded them of their assignment as the kids filed in. By now Kim's clothes had dried, so he was able to enter the store, but his shoes left tiny puddles and squeaked obnoxiously as he walked. Marinette, Juleka, Rose, and Alya regrouped by the doors, eyeing the racks and racks of clothing excitedly. After a few seconds of debate, the girls were off, each to find an ensemble worthy of the label "Parisian Culture."

"Lookin' good, ladies!" Alya grinned when the girls had rejoined ten minutes later, holding a few tops and bottoms each. "Marinette? Do they pass your expert designer approval?"

"Yep!" Marinette giggled, folding her clothing choices expertly over her arm.

"Now time for the most important part!" Rose squealed, clapping her hands and dragging her friends to another aisle. "Accessories!"

The accessories aisle was lined with necklaces, earrings, chokers, headpieces, and scarves, some looking a bit worse for wear.

"Juleka!" Rose picked up a black choker, presenting it to her friend. "This choker would look _lovely_ with the ripped t-shirt you picked!"

Marinette and Alya nodded encouragingly, and Juleka took the neck piece shyly, muttering a small thanks. Clipping it around her neck, Juleka did a silly pose for her friends' dramatic applause.

And so it continued. The team gave recommendations and tried on all sorts of accessories, some silly, some actually really quite stunning. Marinette was having a great time with her friends, messing around and taking a much-needed break from the exhaustion of the onslaught of akuma attacks Hawkmoth had unleashed on Paris. Marinette had relaxed for the first time all week... until Alya held up a small pair of dangly earrings, eyeing Marinette's old pair mischievously.

"Marinette, did you know I have _never_ seen you without those black earrings in?" Alya questioned innocently. Marinette's fingers immediately went to her Miraculous, tensing subconsciously.

"Really? Hah! I guess these are just my favorite pair!" Marinette brushed a few strands of hair in front of her ears, chuckling in a hopefully normal manner.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to take them off for a little bit! You know, just for the pictures!"

"Oh!" Rose added energetically, winking at Alya in a not-so-subtle way. "I saw a couple of fancy hoop earrings back a little way that I know would look just perfect on you!"

Marinette took a step back. "Um, no, I'm fine! But thanks for the suggestion!"

Alya's groaned. "Come on, girl! I love you, but those plain black circles don't exactly scream originality! Try on a new pair!"

Clutching her ears defensively, Marinette steeled her gaze. 'No! I like these earrings, and I'm gonna keep them in!"

Alya jerked her head at Juleka, who rolled her eyes but stepped up anyways. "Marinette, why don't you want to try any other earrings on?"

"Because I like these ones!"

Alya threw her hands up exasperatedly. "Why?!"

"Because they're special to me!"

"But this is a special project! As a fashion designer can't you appreciate the aesthetic earrings bring to an outfit?"

"Yes! I can appreciate the look on _other_ people! From _afar_! Wearing my _own_ earrings!"

"Girl I love you but why are you making such a big deal out of this?!"

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this? _Huh_ , Alya?!"

"Ummm... What did I just stumble across?" A new voice added. The bickering friends turned to see

Alix skating over, a smirk on her face. Before Marinette could answer, Alya burst out:

"Marinette has an unhealthy addiction."

"ALYA!" Marinette protested while Alix blinked in confusion, pausing next to Rose and Juleka.

"What? You are seriously attached to those earrings!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Alix!" Alya gave the pink haired skater her best helpless look. "Help me out!'

"Marinette," Alix sighed, rolling her eyes. "I've known you for a while. And I can't remember a single moment with you not wearing those earrings. Please, so that Alya stops throwing a fit-"

"Hey!"

 

"-take off the stupid earrings."

 

Marinette closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. When she opened her eyes Alix's hand was outstretched with her palm up, as if to accept Marinette's earrings...

"No."

Rose and Juleka groaned. Alya yanked at her hair in frustration. Alix's eyes narrowed. Even though she was the shortest person in Ms. Bustier's entire class, Alix was a force to be reckoned with. Nobody told Alix Kubdel no.

"No?" Alix repeated. She was having too much fun with this new challenge to realize how silly the argument was.

The bluenette crossed her arms and cocked her hip, her gaze as hard as iron as she stared down at her classmate. "No. There is literally _nothing_ on this earth that will convince me to remove my earrings." Marinette leaned forwards slightly, bringing her face closer to Alix's, making sure every word was heard by the girl in front of her. "Not you, not Alya... nobody."

Steely blue eyes stared into steelier blue eyes. After a moment Marinette straightened, plastering a smile on her face. "Anyways! I'm going to go get changed! I'll see all of you later for the group pictures."

Marinette marched away to the dressing rooms, leaving her friends slack-jawed and wide-eyed behind her.

Meanwhile, Kim, Nino, Nathaniel, Max, and Adrien stood in awed confusion at the mouth of the aisle, watching the scene unfold in front of them.

"...Wow," Kim blinked hard. "Did Marinette just..."

"... Stand up against Alix and... win?" Nathaniel finished for the athlete, a blush crossing his pale face as his eyes followed the bluenette out of sight.

Nino shook his head. "I knew Marinette had a fiery side to her, but usually she's pretty chill!"

"I never have seen her without those earrings..." Adrien thought aloud as he fiddled nervously with his ring, wondering who on earth would be so attached to a piece of jewelry that they would fight over it in the middle of a highly populated area...

Oh. Right. Adrien made a face to himself as he realized the hippocracy of his mental statement.

Adrien zoned back in when Alya waved for the group of boys to join them

"Is it just me, or does anybody else want to get those earrings away from Marinette even more now?" Alix smirked, cracking her knuckles and pounding her skate against the floor. Alya cackled mischeviously in reply.

"Let's do it!" Kim high fived Alix, pumping his fists.

Nathaniel was the only voice of reason. "If Marinette doesn't want her earrings out, shouldn't we respect that?"

Rose and Myelene nodded their heads, looking slightly guilty, but the red head's statement went mostly ignored by the rest of the group, who were devising a plan.

"Alright," Kim said. "We need someone to get Marinette's earrings out, someone to distract her, and someone to record her action."

"Hold up." Alya held her hands up in a t shape. "Shouldn't we make sure whoever takes her earrings does it gently? I mean," she hastily added as Alix opened her mouth to speak. "Of course I want her earrings out, but whoever we pick needs to be fast and efficient enough to not hurt Marinette. After all, she's my best friend. I don't want to hurt her...." Alya's concerned expression morphed into a devilish grin. "... _Too_ badly."

"After all, this is to help Marinette, right?" Nino smirked, pulling out his phone and switching it to video mode. "We want to help end her unhealthy obsession, like good friends?"

"Exactly." Alix waved her classmates into a group huddle in the middle of the store aisle. Nathaniel and Rose, while looking a bit guilty, joined the huddle out of pure curiosity. "Alright, guys. Operation: Intervention is a go. Adrien?"

"Yeah?"

Alix smirked dangerously.

"How fast are you?"

  
Marinette sat with her head buried in her hands. Her back was pressed against the wall of one of the small dressing rooms. Tikki fluttered around the room, admiring her reflection in the mirrors that covered any wall that didn't have a door or clothing hanger in it.

"Tikkiiiii." Marinette groaned. "That was so awkward!"

"Marinette, you are Ladybug." Tikki cheerily zipped to her chosen and settled on her knee, looking up into Marinette's distressed blue eyes. "You save Paris on a daily basis. You can handle your classmates being silly!"

Marinette sighed and shook her head. "Thanks, Tikki. I guess I'm just kind of on edge right now, especially after all of the akumas this week."

"I totally understand!" Tikki threw her tiny hand up in exasperation. "You've powered up more than six times in a few days!"

"I knew Hawkmoth was a villain, but this just evil! I haven't had time to do homework, work on designs, or even _sleep_ in days!"

"And that's why you deserved this field trip today, Marinette! Come on, get up!" Tikki tugged on the bluenette's hand. "Try to relax! Today is your rest day! Loosen up!"

Marinette smiled at her kwami. "Thanks, Tikki. I'll try!"

"Good! Now," Tikki flew to the bundle of clothes that lay forgotten on the floor. "You have a project to finish, and an outfit to rock!"

"Right, Tikki!" Marinette bounced to her feet and grabbed the bundle, quickly undressing, throwing on the outfit. She turned to admire herself in the mirror. She wore a red shirt with a black Eiffel Tower print, tucked into high waisted ripped shorts.

"Looking good, girl!" Tikki cried. "Now, if only you had different earrings..."

"Oh come on Tikki, that's not funny!" Marinette deadpanned, tugging on her pigtails. Tikki giggled.

"You know I'm just messing with you! Now, go strut your stuff!"

Marinette grinned, scooping the kwami into her purse, slinging it over her head. Placing a hand on the doorknob, Marinette took a deep breath.

_Alright, Marinette,_ Marinette thought to herself. _I'm gonna go out there and get this project done... Then take a fat nap when I get home. Alright. Let's do this._

 

Adrien crouched by a clothes rack, surveying the scene in front of him. The dressing rooms were directly in front of him, with a long straight aisle leading to the front door. Clothes racks and other isles branched out of the main aisle. At the first intersection Alya, Nathaniel, Juleka, Rose, and Alix stood, chatting with their eyes trained discreetly on the dressing room door. Adrien, who was between the stretch of isle between the door and first intersection, glanced across the aisle. Kim crouched in waiting behind a shelf holding jeans. The athlete leaned out from his hiding spot and waved at Adrien, who gave him a thumbs up in return. Nino ducked out of a dress rack closer to Kim, winking and waving his camera dramatically.

"Everybody say hi!" Nino said quietly, panning his phone around the room with a smirk on his face.

"Operation Intervention is a go! We got Alya and the gang for distracting the target, Kim and my bro Adrien on snatching duty, and your man Nino on camera duty! Marinette will be out soon-"

"Boys!" Alya whisper-shouted, gesturing for them to duck back into their places. "Shut up! Be ready! She'll be coming out any minute!"

Nino ducked back into his hiding spot with a chuckle. Adrien sent her a quick salute, then ducked back into his spot behind a t-shirt rack. Plagg floated out of his jacket, settling into the neck of black shirt where he could reside without sticking out too much.

"Kid? You really sure it's a good idea to take that girl's earrings?" Plagg eyed his chosen, raising a tiny eyebrow. "What if someone tried taking your ring when you weren't expecting it?"

Pushing down his guilt, Adrien shook his head. "That's different!"

"How so?"

"... Never mind! Come on Plagg, when did you start being such a saint, oh powerful god of destruction?" Adrien snorted, flipping a sleeve over his kwami's head, obscuring him from vision. "Besides, you said I need to loosen up as Adrien, right? What better way than a harmless prank on a friend!"

Plagg wriggled out of the shirt, shaking his head as he disappeared into a fluffy sweater nearby.

"Alright, kid. Do what you want. I'm taking a nap."

Adrien scoffed, ignoring the kwami, squashing any leftover unease into a tiny ball. It wasn't the same. Adrien' s ring provided protection for all of Paris! Marinette's earrings were just that... earrings!

Right?

 

The dressing room door opened, and Adrien squatted further down, his pulse picking up. Through a gap in the clothes, Adrien could see Marinette stepping out and closing the door behind her, decked out in a new t-shirt and shorts ensemble. Adrien heard rather than saw Alya beckon her best friend closer.

"Hey, Marinette! Looking great!" Alya called.

 

Marinette eyed her best friend suspiciously. "Hey, Alya. Are you guys still mad about the earrings?"

Alya smiled a bit too widely to be a hundred percent real. "Oh of course we aren't! We realized it was a bit silly, so just decided to go along with the project. You ready for pictures?"

Unbeknownst to Marinette, Alya had just kicked her operation into action. Adrien and Kim stealthily slunk out of their hiding places in Marinette's direction. Nino held his phone out subtly from behind the shelves as the boys crept twenty feet away. fifteen feet away, five feet away...

Marinette was too tired to really question the amused and strained looks Alya and Alix darted behind her shoulders, instead tightening her ponytails and addressing Juleka and Rose.

"Do you guys know what outfits you're gonna wear?"

"Oh, uh..."

"Yes!" Rose swooped in to help Juleka, elbowing her friend lightly. "For me a pink dress with a scarf, and for Juleka here-"

Suddenly Marinette felt two forces. Everything slowed as she felt her heart stop; two somethings were reaching for her miraculous from behind. After days of little sleep and being on edge for too long, Marinette didn't dare investigate before she leaped into action, her vision tinged with red, her body flying faster than her brain as she lashed out on pure instinct.  
Marinette kicked behind her, sweeping a leg out from the attacker on her right, bringing them to their knees with a swift jab to the face on their way down. Using her rushing adrenaline and their body as a springboard, Marinette jumped and twisted in midair to land on the shoulders of the second offender. Grabbing their left arm through her blood-red haze, she flipped the figure over, neatly jumping off with a growl as they crashed to the floor. Both offenders were on their backs with their hands underneath them before they could even grunt in surprise. Before she even knew what was going on Marinette was on top of the attackers, each of her knees pressed into of their chests, her icy blue eyes on fire, her fist cocked and ready to fly-

"MARINETTE STOP!"

The voice shook Marinette out of her Ultimate Ladybug Defense Mode. Her gaze darted to her prepared fist, then to the two boys underneath her, then to Alya. Alya recoiled in fear the second her best friend's wide eyes met hers. Paling, Marinette threw herself off of her classmates, who she was just now able to identify as Kim and- ADRIEN?!

"Ohmigosh omigosh omigosh I am _so_ sorry I didn't mean to ohmigosh let me help you up.." Marinette hastily grabbed the boys' shoulders, hoisting them up. With a loud squeak she dropped them again as the group in front of her's eyes, blown apart and shocked, reminded her that Marinette shouldn't have super strength; thus, shouldn't be able to lift hundred plus teenage boys so easily. "Oh my gosh sorry sorry sorry oh no-"

Kim shook his head and blinked from where he lay on the floor. "Woah... I did... not.... see that coming."

Adrien didn't speak from his daze on the floor. All he could do was stare at the squirming girl in front of him, the girl who had totally taken down his undercover superhero butt in two seconds flat, with an expression of confusion and almost understanding that Marinette couldn't dream of deciphering. Not when the rest of her classmates hadn't snapped out of their shocked stupor; they stared at her, even Nino, who was holding his video camera steady through habit alone.

Kim was the one to break the silence first. "Dang, Marinette! You totally got us! " He laughed, shaking his head and trying to stem his now steadily bleeding nose. "Ha! Teach us to come near your earrings one more time!"

His comment shook the others in the group awake (other than Adrien, who was rising shakily to his feet with a mortified look in his eyes), and Alix, Alya, Nino, Juleka, Nathaniel, and Rose all started speaking at once.

"Girl, I didn't know you knew self-defense!"

"Kim do you need a paper towel?"

"Or five?"

"Adrien are you alright? You're looking kind of sick."

"Can you teach me that jump thing? It could come in handy when dealing with Chloe..."

"That was so cool, you totally flew!"

"Like a bird!"

"Or a fairy!"

"A very angry fairy..."

"Kim you should have seen the look on your face when she swept your feet, bro!"

"Who would have known a girl so small was so strong!"

"And Adrien! You hit the floor, dude!

"Hey, Nino!" Alix called as Nino jogged up towards the group. "You caught all this, right?"

The dark boy nodded his head, playfully fingering his phone. "Oh, I got it all! Don't you worry! Let's watch it, guys!"

Marinette flushed and paled at the same time as her friends crowded around while Nino proudly held out his phone. What if they watched the video and realized she was Ladybug? Was it too late to knock the phone out of Nino's hands, to destroy any evidence? But would that show her classmates that she had something to hide? Oh, she had really messed up! Now everyone would either think she was Ladybug or a ninja or an assassin or something! They would never talk to her again if they knew she was lying to them! She would be an outcast forever, and Cat Noir would find out and not want to be her partner anymore! And... Why was Adrien looking at her like that?!

Marinette snapped out of her train wreck of a thought process when Kim laughed, a hand still clamped over his nose.

"Wow! You sure can move, Marinette!" Kim chuckled. He reached over and tugged on Adrien's arm, dragging him to the front of the cluster. "Come on, bro! Watch this! Just watch your face when she flips you!"

Nino hit rewind on the video. Adrien watched as Video Marinette left the dressing rooms and approached her friends. He watched Alya give the code words, watched Video Adrien and Video Kim creep out of their hiding spots. Watched them reach for Video Marinette's earrings. Watched her knock the boys to the ground in a flash of hair and limbs. Watched her determined expression morph to fear as she realized she had attacked her friends.

"Guys, hold up, this is the best part!" Nino paused the video on a close up of Video Marinette's fiery blue eyes, ablaze as she pulled back her fist.

Fiery blue eyes Adrien recognized. Fiery blue eyes Adrien saw almost every day. Fiery blue eyes he had learned to trust with his life.

Fiery blue eyes identical to the ones he loved more than _anything_.

It was like an atomic bomb had been set off inside Adrien's brain. Everything clicked into place, his mind rushing at a million miles a minute. While the others, Marinette included (albeit nervously) chuckled at the expression on the camera, Adrien was having a crisis.

_Oh my gosh, it's her. I found her. It's her, I found her, she's here, I know her..._

Rose looked over in concern. "Adrien are you alright?"

Shaking his head, Adrien plastered on his best model face, shoving his inner turmoil deep down until he was alone. "Yeah, I'm great! That was crazy! Marinette,' He turned to look at her mischievously. "I didn't know you were so strong! Where did you learn to fight?"

The bluenette chuckled nervously, stammering, "I... uh... wrestle my dad! And took karate as a kid! Yeah, and lifting flour bags for the bakery, I guess gives me lots of... muscles?" She flexed her arm awkwardly as her classmates' mouths dropped.

"Girl, I knew you were strong but I didn't know you were this ripped!" Alya cried, squeezing her best friend's bicep with admiration.

"I challenge you to an arm wrestling competition during lunch!" Kim flexed his own muscles. "Speaking of, it's almost lunchtime, does anyone know where Ms. Bustier is?"

However, Adrien wasn't done asking questions. He knew that questioning her in public wasn't smart, but with the numbness in his brain, he couldn't care less as he innocently extended his hand to gesture at Marinette's ears. "You must really like those earrings? Where did you get them?"

The class turned to look at her. "Oh, um, somebody special gave them to me?"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" Marinette nodded vigorously, smiling convincingly. Adrien grinned at her, his eyes boring into hers.

"Who?"

A pause as Marinette racked her brains for something, anything that could be a plausible enough cover story.

"My grandfather."

Marinette mentally face palmed as a smirk crossed her friend' face. "Sounds pawsome" he said flippantly, his eyes never leaving hers.

Marinette deadpanned. "Was that a pun?"

_It's her! It's her! It's her! It' s her!_

"...maybe."

Marinette groaned as the rest of their classmates laughed and groaned as well. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Marinette stalked towards the dressing room door.

"I'm getting dressed. Juleka, Alya, take pictures of your outfits. Or don't. Either way, I'm going to lunch." She called over her shoulder, leaving the group alone.

"Alright, team." Alya beckoned Rose and Juleka to another section of dressing rooms. "Let's finish up this project. Lunch sounds pretty good, so let's get this done."

The rest of the students broke off in separate directions, chatting about the project or their classmate's ninja skills. Adrien stood alone in the aisle, his carefully carefree expression melting away to the strained panic her felt inside. Walking too quickly to be casual, the blonde headed back to his hiding spot. Plagg stared up at his chosen from the sweater he resided in. Mirth lit up the kwami's green eyes as he sniggered.

"How did your little operation go?"

Adrien ignored the little quip, instead rubbing his temples in an attempt to stop his brain from hurting.

"Plagg... you knew... didn't you?"

Plagg scoffed. "Knew what? That you should have left that girl's earrings alone?"

"No- well, yes, but, no- I mean," Adrien coughed, his voice raising an octave as he tried to speak over the lump in his throat. "You knew that Marinette... is Ladybug?"

Plagg didn't immediately answer, instead looking at his holder cautiously. "What makes you think that, kid?"

Adrien raised a brow. Plagg sighed in exasperation.

"Yep, she's Ladybug. Yippee, you found her. Now, can we get some cheese now? I'm starving!"

  
"Adrien?"

  
"Adrien?"

 

"Sweet cheese, I think I broke him."<https://fifidrawz.tumblr.com/post/179391415859/httpsarchiveofourownorgworks15005636chapters>


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How will Adrien react when he finally knows Ladybug's secret identity?
> 
> Thank you for being patient, I've been super busy with packing, activities, and just being a procrastinating piece of trash. This will be my last chapter for a few weeks but I should be back on track as soon as I get home! Thanks for reading, love you guys!

Marinette beat Kim (and everyone else) at arm wrestling during lunch.

 

_It's her it's her it's her!_

 

Marinette slipped a few cookies into her purse when she thought nobody was looking.

 

_It's her it's her it's her!_

 

Marinette gazed nostalgically at the top of the Eiffel Tower, dazing out from the notes she was supposed to be taking for her group project.

 

_It's her it's her it's her!_

 

Was Adrien stalking her? No! Stalking was a crime! He was a superhero for crying out loud! How bad would that be for his reputation? Besides, it wasn't stalking. I mean, _sure_ , he was crouching inside of a bush. _Sure_ , he had a tiny notebook now half full of observations. _SURE_ , he had a pair of cheap souviner binoculars from a nearby tourist booth, trained in Marinette's general direction. That didn't make him a _stalker_ , though... right? Just a friend concerned for their other platonic friend's safety, right?

 

The completely platonic friend Adrien just found out was the love of his life...

 

The rest of the field trip since Plagg's dismissive reveal went by slower, yet faster, than any day Adrien had ever had to live through in his life. His mind shifted from clear and present to dazed and unfocused, trying to stitch one of his best friends and the girl he loved together and shove their identities into the same box. Lunch (which was rescheduled to right after the thrift tore), the Eiffel Tower, the park by the school, driving home... everything blurred together, the same line playing in the back of his head the entire time _: it's her it's her it's her_! When Adrien's exhausted mind finally came back into focus (after all, he had been modeling past midnight _and_ fighting akumas all week, too), he was already pulling up to his house.

 

Climbing out of the car, Adrien muttered a quiet thanks to his bodyguard, who accompanied the teen towards the massive front door. When the Gorilla opened the door, Gabriel Agreste stood at the top of the stairs, his monotone eyes trained on his son.

 

"Adrien." Gabriel said flatly. No hug, no hand shake, no smile. His greeting was as cold as the mansion the Agrestes lived in.

 

Adrien bowed his head slightly, his glazed green eyes staring at the linoleum floor he stood on. He greeted his father in an equally dead tone. "Hello, father."

 

"Your schedule has been changed." Gabriel straightened, his tone unchanged. "There is a dinner you must attend tonight. You will meet and entertain one of my most important clients. Afterward, you have a short fitting for my next ad campaign. Finally, you- Adrien? Are... are you listening to me?" Confusion crossed Gabriel's face; usually that was when his son started protesting. It took him a second to realize his son had fallen asleep standing up, not hearing a single word of instruction. Gabriel tried again in a louder volume, shooting a slightly concerned look at the Gorilla. "Adrien?"

 

Adrien's head snapped back to attention, his eyes flying open as he almost tripped over his own two feet. "YES, SIR!" Adrien shouted, blinking his eyes and staring at his visibly confused father.

 

A moment of silence passed. Adrien kept his steadily glazing eyes glued on his father, who seemed to be deep in thought.

 

"Adrien..." He began in a formal tone, before looking back at his visibly exhausted son and sighing hoplessly. "You don't have to go to the dinner tonight. I will have Natalie reschedule your chinese and fencing classes today and tomorrow. Sleep and get you're homework completed on time. Do not make me regret this decision, and do not make a habit out of it. Also, when- Adrien?"

 

Adrien, who was now staring blankly at a wall, blinked rapidly again as he tried to force himself to focus. Gabriel didn't know if he should laugh or cry as memories flooded his brain. Adrien used to do the same thing when he was a younger child in need of a nap. Becoming a fumbing and blurry mess, Adrien tumbled around the house until either one of his parents scooped him up, wrapping him gently in a soft blue blanket. Emilie would rock her son to sleep, and Gabriel would help her sing a lullabye to their child...

 

"Adrien. Bed. Now." Gabriel ordered, shoving the memories to the back of his head. He would remember those memories at a more apropriate, private time.

 

It took a moment for Adrien to proccess his father's demand, still blinking heavily. Grinning gratefully as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, the blonde stumbled up the stairs. Adrien brushed past his father's still figure so quickly, he missed the old tune Gabriel hummed almost silently to himself.

  
_______________________________________________________________________________

 

Adrien flopped face down on his bed, dumping his school bag onto the floor without a second glance. Plagg tumbled out of the bag, grumbling. The kwami zoomed to land on his chosen's head, sitting down heavily.

 

"Alright, kid, I want some cheese and I want some stat. You were so busy spying on Pigtails that you forgot to feed me!" He cried, his stomach growling.

 

"I can't hear you! I'm sleeping!" Adrien's muffled voice replied, snuggling deeper into the blankets he lay on top of. He kicked his shoes off, almost hitting Plagg.

 

"Hey! That's my line, I call plagerism!" The small cat yowled. "Come on, I told you about your little girlfriend today, you at least owe me some cheese for my wisdom!"

 

The blonde raised his head, his tone desperate as he pleaded with the kwami floating inches in front of him. "Plagg, _please_ , you can get into the cheese in the mini fridge. Leave me alone!"

 

"Yeah but the fridge is all the way _over there_! Besides, you can open it easier than I ca- AH!"

 

Plagg yelped as Adrien threw out a hand, snatching him out of the air. Adrien brought Plagg close to his slightly raised face. His volume increased from a whisper steadily in a deadly tone, "Plagg, I'm exhausted. I've been fighting _multiple_ akumas a day this week. My father keeps piling classes and photo shoots onto my _already_ hectic schedule. I haven't _slept_ in more than a week. Talk to me one more time in the next four hours, and the only cheese you will get is whatevers left over from a McDonald's cheese burger!" He released the horrified kwami, dropped his head back onto the bed, and passed out like the classy model he was as soon as his head hit the mattress.

 

Plagg floated in indignant silence for a few seconds, debating if he should wake Adrien up and risk the McDonald' threat, or let him sleep. Deciding that he would never eat that trashy junk cheese again, Plagg zipped to the small mini fridge under the bed. Phasing through the door, he grabbed three wheels of camambert, phased back again, and settled on the couch.

 

Wolfing down his cheese, Plagg felt a dull ache settle over his entire body. Transforming, absorbing damage, and providing Cat Noir with cataclym took more out of him that he cared to admit. So, he licked the last moresal of stinky heavenly goodness off of his paws, checked to make sure nobody was watching (or awake), and switched off the lights. Plagg pressed a button that dimmed the massive windows, then flew over to the snoring teen on the bed.

 

He landed on the small of Adrien's back, circled twice, and curled into a sleeping heap. Plagg eyed his chosen one last time before contendidly flicking his tail over his eyes, surrendering himself to the sweet beckoning of sleep.

________________________________________________________________________________

  
A few hours later Adrien's eyes flew open, his arms and legs flailing. Plagg flew cross the room, yowling, as Adrien cried out in a panic, "NO! NOT HER! TAKE ME INST-" The boy faltered, realizing he was awake in a completely safe setting. He let out a rattled breath.

 

Plagg had just opened his mouth to give the boy a piece of his mind, when he stopped short. He continued in a smaller tone. "Did you have it again?"

 

Adrien curled in on himself defensively, his pale skin shaking. "Have what?"

 

Plagg narrowed his eyes, his usually easygoing tone clipped. "You know what."

 

"...Yes."

 

"Jeez, kid! You've had the same nightmare since you took that hit from that nightmare endusing akuma for Ladybug a week ago!"

 

"Well what do you expect? Should I have just let her get hit so she could have these dreams instead?"

 

Plagg threw his arms up in exasperated concern. "Yes! Look, kid- don't give me that look, I know exactly what your gonna say! I've heard it all! I know you love her. You don't want her to hurt, so you take those hits for her, take the extra patrol so she can rest, risk your life for not only Paris, but for your partner on a daily basis," Plagg sat down heavily on the desk next to the bed, looking at Adrien from eye level. Adrien was avoiding eye contact, but Plagg pressed on. "This. Has. To. Stop. And- hey, I'm talking! Don't interupt! I have infinite cosmic powers! I could smite you!"

 

Adrien cracked a small grin despite the serious subject. "How are you gonna do that? Shoot camembert from your paws? Because that would be..." He cocked his head and smiled with his mouth open liked the massive dork he was, " **cat** astrophic."

 

Plagg deadpanned. Adrien nodded his head and wiggled his eyebrows, his eyes not leaving the gleaming green in front of him. A few seconds passed.

 

"... That wasn't too bad, actually."

 

"Hah!" Adrien laughed and punched his fist in the air triumphantly. "Finally someone appreciates my puns!"

 

Plagg rolled his eyes, scoffing, "I don't appreciate them! One was less... terrible than the rest, and I aknowledged that! Besides, we're getting off track!" Plagg brandished a paw at the chuckling boy in front of him. "The thing is, you need to stop putting yourself in harms way for Ladybug! It's hurting you, it's giving you nightmares and bruises and scars and it has to stop."

 

Still chuckling, Adrien shook his head. "No can do, pal. I'll never stop taking hits for milady. She means the world to me, and I'd rather suffer myself than see her in pain." He reached over and rubbed his scowling kwami's head. "But I'll be more subtle about it in the future, okay?"

 

Plagg groaned, accepting defeat for the time being. "Fine. Whatever. Go get me some more cheese."

 

Adrien cackled. "There's the Plagg I know and lo- tolerate!" Sending a wink over his shoulder, Adrien opened the mini fridge under his bed and tossed a wheel of stinking camembert to the back cat. "Now, take this outside. I have to come up with a plan."

 

Plagg snatched the cheese and shoved it into his mouth. Adrien looked on in disgust as the kwami chomped noisily. The cheese was devoured in seconds. Plagg licked his lips. "Plan for what?"

 

"Firstly, ew. Secondly, jut in case you haven't been paying attention to recent events, I found out Ladybug's secret identity today. I need a plan, because if I don't have a plan when I see her for patrol tonight, I'm going to end up screaming her name in front of everybody and put her in danger."

 

"Hey, it's worked before! One of my earlier Cat Noirs totally screamed out their Ladybug's secret identity in front of an entire villiage, and they ended up married!"

 

Adrien raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Really."

 

Plagg tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, their lives were threatened and turned upside down and they were used as experiments for a long time, but all's well that ends well!"

 

"That's not funny! See, this is why we need a plan!"

 

Rolling his eyes, Plagg sighed. "Fine, your Ladybug seems like the skittish type anyways, maybe breaking it to her softly would be easier. Have any ideas?"

 

A small smirk grew on the model's face. "Actually, yes..."

  
________________________________________________________________________________

  
A few hours later, Cat Noir stood on his and Ladybug's favorite meeting spot: one of the larger beams at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Blankets covered the floor, with food, pillows, beanbags, drinks, and candles scattered around the small area. The scene radiated a welcoming and cozy vibe. Cat Noir surveyed the area in satisfaction, puffing up a large red beanbag. He had that thing hidden in his closet for the longest time after ordering it online after his father wouldn't buy it for him. Mr. Agreste claimed it was terrible for posture, and as a model, Adrien just _couldn't_ risk it. So, Adrien hid it, pulling it out only for the rare sleep over with Nino or not so rare movie night with Plagg. Once it had been fluffed to perfection, Cat Noir turned to drag another, smaller blue beanbag next to it. Everything had to be perfect if things were going to be the way he planned them to.

 

Was he also trying to recreate a scene from that American movie, Up with those beanbags?  Maybe. Not that he would tell anyone, of course.

 

The cat themed superhero fluffed the blue beanbag for a few seconds. Once satisfied, he turned to grab a few pillows when his tail knocked into a candle. Whipping around, Cat Noir watched the candle fly through the air in slow motion, landing...

 

The beanbag was up in flames before he could stop it. Shrieking, Cat Noir snatched a pillow from the floor and started whacking mercilessly at the flaming bean bag, desperately trying to smother the flames. He yowled in surprise when the pillow he held started smoking, fire rapidly spreading along the fabric until the entire thing was burning. Cat Noir dropped the pillow, retracting his slightly stinging hand. He had seen using a pillow to extinguish fires work in movies, why didn't it work now?!

A whoosing sound erupted from behind him, and suddenly Cat Noir's hair, face, and body was covered in a pinkish grey foamy gel. Most of it flew past him to extinguish the beanbag and pillow, drenching them. Cat Noir, who had squeezed his eyes shut as best as he could after being sprayed, raised his hands to his hair. Wiping the top of his head in a disgusted attempt to rid himself of foam (which only made his hair stick up higher and look even crazier), he wiped his face sullenly before turning to see his savior and, apparently, new hair stylist.

Ladybug hung upside down on her yoyo Spider-man style, brandishing a red and black spotted fire exstinguisher. The smirk on her mouth and mirth in her eyes sent her partner's heart racing as she laughed. "Hey, kitty cat! You missed a spot!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks for reading! It means the world to me! Comments and feedback keeps a writer going, so if you want to leave any reviewing my work feel free! I will not be uploading for a few weeks (eek) because I'm going to be insanely busy, and since I will be out on Trek tomorrow (its a thing), I won't be able to respond to comments for a few days. Thank you for your patience, I love you all, I'll try to respond ASAP! Sorry for typos, it's 11:50 at night, ugh


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW I've had a busy couple of weeks. Trek, EFY, now I'm in Hawaii, and exhausted. I've been trying to write as much as I can, but because my friends and family doesn't know I write fanfiction (haha RIP) it's been a bit hard, especially with us all in enclosed spaces. Hope this chapter isn't too fluffy, angsty, or weird, I'm kind of dead so.... WAHOO! Also, I'm a sucky artist, but if anyone wants to make some cool art for this story or any of my other ones feel free! No pressure of course, but you would get a shout out/credit, and I would love to see how others interprate my story! Finally, if you are looking for a good book to read, go check out the FIRE AND FLOOD series by Victoria Scott. She is an AMAZING author and while this isn't a promo, she really needs support to come out with a third book which I REALLY want to read. No pressure! Love you all, thank you for your patience! Comment what you liked and didnt, I'm up for constuctive criticsm!
> 
>  
> 
> EW typos sorry

_______________________________________________________________________________

Ladybug snorted at the expression on her partner's face, flipping to land gracefully a few feet away from the blonde. "Hello, earth to Cat Noir? Are you okay in there?" She knocked on his head playfully, making sure to avoid the wet parts. Snapping out of his daze, Cat Noir grinned cockily.

  
"Now that you're here, milady," Cat Noir shook his head, sending foam flying in all directions.

Ladybug squealed as rouge goop clung to her hair and suit.

  
"Eeew! Cat, I just washed my hair! I thought dogs were the messy ones!"

  
The blonde turned to the frantically wiping girl, his smile crooked and mischevious. "Did you just call me... messy?"

  
"Kitty, no, I know that face, stay right there-" Ladybug threw her arms up in defense as her partner crept closer, his arms outstretched with an almost predatory gleam in his eyes.

"I'll show you messy, Bugaboo!"

"Cat no, don't you dare- NO GET AWAY FROM ME YOU STUPID STRAY!"

Ladybug leapt out of the way as Cat Noir made a swipe for her, his hand full of foam. He growled in mock frustration when his hand instead made contact with the structure of the tower, whipping back around to see Ladybug sticking her toungue out from a beam a few feet above his head.

"Come and get me, alley cat!"

"Challenge accepted!"

From beam to beam they leaped, Cat Noir lobbing bits of foam at his partner, while Ladybug sprayed him with whatever was left over from the extinguisher can from above. Eventually, Cat leapt a half second before Ladybug could. He collided with her, both in midair, and they tumbled out of the tower. In free fall (which wasn't entirely new to the heroes, after all), Ladybug shot her partner a dirty look.

''You got us into this," She called from a few feet away, not at all worried about the steadily approaching ground.

"And you....?" Cat Noir beamed at Ladybug innocently, his blonde hair flying all over the place in a way that secretly set her heart racing.

"...Will get us out of it." Ladybug finished with an amused half sigh. Unhooking her yoyo, she grabbed her partner's hand and drew him close. She cast the yoyo to the top of the Eiffel Tower, where it wrapped the very tip and pulled taunt. Ladybug tugged on the string, and the two heroes were yanked out of free fall, into a large arch that sent them soaring back to the tower. Ladybug and Cat Noir landed with ease, Ladybug rolling her eyes and sighing good naturedly. Cat Noir took the opportunity to seize his partner by the shoulders and rub his head on hers.

"Cat Noir, are you sure you aren't _actually_  a cat?" Ladybug grumbled, trying to shove the blonde away. Once she was fully foamified too, Cat Noir stood back to admire his work.

  
"Look! Now we can BOTH be messy strays," he winked, gesturing to her foamy hair, face, and suit.

  
"Speak for yourself, kitty cat," Ladybug scoffed, flicking the golden bell hanging around Cat's neck.Her earrings let out a warning beep suddenly, causing the red clad hero to reach for her ears instinctively.

  
Cat Noir's eyes narrowed in confusion. "I thought we had to use our powers in order to time out?"

"Yeah, I used Lucky Charm."

"...When?"

Ladybug shot him a flat look. "Remember the flaming beanbag from a couple minutes ago?"

Cat Noir looked down at his foamy suit; of course. The fire hydrant was her Lucky Charm. Now she had minutes to find a hiding spot before she detransformed.

"Right." Cat's tone was small and dejected, his smile falling. Usually the sound of the countdown meant that it was time for the heroes to part ways. Meant that it was time for him to become Adrien again, time to go back to his big lonely museum of a house. No more freedom, no more wind in his hair, no more Ladybug. Sure he had friends as Adrien, but even then he had to maintain a level of mellow professionalism. Besides... they _just_. W _eren't_. _Her_...

With a jolt he realized that the above statement wasn't as true as he might have thought so yesterday; a matter he still had to address.

  
Ladybug must have picked up on his decrease of enthusiasm, because she smiled softly and punched him in the shoulder. "But hey! I just got out here, what's the point in going home when I could be chilling with the coolest cat on the block?" Trying her best not to looked too pleased when Cat Noir's ears and tail perked, she turned to plop down heavily next to a thick pole, gesturing with her hands. "I'm going to stay here and refuel for a bit. I'll meet you in, say, five minutes. Now, shoo. No peeking! Stay away from any fire while I'm gone, that was the only fire hydrant I have!"

With a large (and most likely dopey) grin covering his face, Cat Noir bowed, bid his lady farewell for now, and leapt down to the area he had set up. Sitting down on a half-soaked beanbag, Cat Noir sighed contentedly. "Now," he said to himself aloud. "How am I going to clean up?" He fingered his mask carefully, hoping that the exhaustion-induced bags under his eyes hadn't been washed off. The only thing keeping the world from knowing about his lack of sleep was Adrien's masterfully done makeup. The last thing he needed was for anyone to know how sleep deprived he truly was. 

  
His thoughts were answered when a far away cry of "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" split the air. A flurry of ladybugs (the insect, not the person) flew through the air, swarming around anything out of place. In seconds the foam was cleaned from his hair, face, and suit. The beanbags next to him were restored to pime conditioned, even fluffed perfectly. The candles were all relit, even those unlit before. Cat Noir followed the swarm of ladybugs with his eyes until he couldn't see them anymore, his newly cleaned face beaming softly.

_I am going to marry that woman someday._

 

A few minutes later, Ladybug swung down to the tidied area Cat waited for her in. "Alright," she checked off her fingers as she listed, "I got my kwami fed, cleaned everything up, fixed your hair- don't stick your tounge out, you know I helped.... And now I'm good to go!"

  
Cat Noir smiled. "Awesome! In case you hadn't noticed, we have quite the spread here for your lounging convenience."

  
Ladybug's satisfied grin morphed to slight confusion as she fully surveyed the spread around her. "Wait... what is this?"

  
She turned her questioning bright blue eyes to her partner. His heart thumped faster, and he smiled sheepishly, rubbing the nape of his neck. "Well, we've been working so hard this week, that I figured that patrol could just be, well, you know... a chill day? See!" Not vocalising the part about him knowing her secret identity and wanting to soften her up before he broke it to her, he leapt over to the picnic basket. Ladybug's eyes followed him as he displayed everything he pointed out. "I got food... and pillows, blankets, a couple of beanbags, candels, but that might not be such a good idea anymore... but their sented! With the food.. and stuff... uh..." Cat Noir faltered awkwardly when Ladybug's eyes didn't stop staring. "Um... yeah? I mean, if you don't like it we can totally-"

  
"I love it."

  
Her voice was so quiet it took a second for Cat Noir to decide that she had actually said it. He turned to his partner, who was doing the cute little squirm she did when she got excited.

  
"Oh my gosh, Cat Noir! This is perfect!" Sighing happily, she collapsed face first into the plush red beanbag with a _fwump_. "Oooh I haven't sat down in what seems like _ages_! This is so nice!"

  
"Glad you like it, milady," Cat Noir plopped down next to her in the blue beanbag. Her head popped up just above the rim of the beanbag, only her nose and up visible. Her eyes smiled down at him.

  
"Cat, seriously. You have no idea what this means to me. I've has  _no_ chill time since last week. I've had the akuma," she leaned her head dramatically against the sideof the bag, closing her eyes. "Family, my friend got nominated for an award, I've had extra projects, school..."

  
"Tell me about it!" Cat Noir lay his head on the side of his bag closest to her, so that he could still see her eyes, which were now merely a foot from his own, "I've had work till past midnight, school, extra classes, projects, hero resonsibilities, not to mention the- and that's it." The blonde stopped himself before he said anything about nightmares. No way would he tell the love of his life about the nightmares he suffered from every day at her expense.

  
"Not to mention the... what?" Ladybug eyed him suspiciously.

  
"Nothing." He turned his head, avoiding her gaze.

  
"Don't nothing me, I know when you're lying to me. Tell me what's up!"

  
"No, it's nothing. Trust me."

  
"Cat Noir. Look at me."

  
After a moment he did. Her blue eyes were brimming with concern, her expression pleading. She held his green eyes in her own.

  
"You can trust me."

  
He took a deep breath, and looked to the sky. He lay his head softly on Ladybug's beanbag, using it as a pillow as his vision swept the beautiful horizon in front of him. He didn't know if his partner loved him as much as he loved her. He could hope, dream (well, maybe that wasn't the best word for it), and wish that she did. But among all of his hoping, there was still a chance she didn't. But knowing she wanted to hear about his problems?  _Wanted_ to be confided in?

  
There was no way he would push her away.

  
"Don't freak out, it's not about identities." Cat Noir began. Ladybug reached a hand down and stroked his hair.

  
"Even if it was, kitty, as long as your okay." She said quietly, nodding for him to continue. Smiling gratefully, he leaned his head into her hand.

  
"Well, do you remember that nightmare akuma?" Ladybug nodded. Cat Noir bowed his head, closed his eyes, and continued in a small voice. "I took a- I got hit by one of the lasers it shot out. I... well, I haven't slept ever since. Not without nightmares.

  
Her hand withdrew from his hair, and he heard her gasp. Cat Noir opened his eyes and moved his head to see Ladybug staring down in horror, her hands covering her mouth.

  
"Cat Noir! That akuma was at least a week ago! Why didn't you _tell_  me? I could have fixed it!"

  
"I don't know! It just didn't seem that important at the moment-"

  
"That was the hit meant for me, wasn't it?" He didn't reply. By then the two were kneeling in their beanbags, facing each other. Ladybug leaned closer. "Wasn't it?"

  
"... Yeah, but it doesn't matter!"

  
"Of course it matters, it should have been me!"

  
"No, it shouldn't have!"

  
"Why not! Do you think I can't handle it?"

  
"Because.... I just need to take the hit sometimes!"

  
"What does that even mean?!"

  
"Ladybug, Paris needs you more than it needs me!" Cat Noir cried, throwing his hands up. Ladybug fell silent as her partner ranted. "I destroy things, and I help you out. I'm more than happy to step up and be there for you, but Paris needs you, your kindness, strength, ability, powers... your love... more than anything I could ever give them. Yes, I'm strong, can fight, and protect. But I'm not who they need. They need a strong leader to look up to. Everybody needs you." Cat Noir took one of her hands softly in his own, mustering up every bit of courage he possessed. " _I_ need you. Milady, I will take the hit for you a million times, I will suffer nightmares for the  _rest of my life_  if it means the people of Paris have the leader they need. If it means you never have to hurt another day in your life. I know you can take the hit. You are the strongest, bravest person I know. But as long as I'm here, as long as Paris needs you, I won't stop taking it for you."

  
They sat in silence for a moment. Cat Noir couldn't help wondering if he had said too much, scared her away with his intense words. He was about to withdraw his hand and apologize when she threw herself at him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and hugged him tightly.

  
"Cat Noir, Paris needs you more than you know. _I need you_ , more than you will ever know. You do so much more than you said. Every time I think hope is lost, that I'm not going to be able to handle the trial I face, you show up with a joke to brighten my day, motivate me, keep me going." Ladybug leaned back, releasing him but staying next to him on the small blue beanbag. "Maybe I am the one some people look up to most. But _you_ are the one  _I_ look up to most."

  
Ladybug stood up suddenly, stretching out a hand to her blushing partner. Coughing dramatically, she held up her left hand, placing her other over her heart in an attempt to lighten the mood.

  
"Now, repeat after me. I, Cat Noir-"

  
"...Really? What are you doing?"

  
"Just do it!"

  
He shook his head in exasperation, but already felt his mood growing happier. He copied her posture with a flourish. "I, Cat Noir-"

  
"Promise-"

  
"...Promise?"

  
"To always tell Ladybug when something is wrong-"

  
"But-" The look his partner sent the blonde made him backtrack, and repeat what she said. "To always tell Ladybug when something is wrong-"

  
"To stop doubting his position as not only role model, partner, and coolest cat in town-"

  
Cat Noir repeated her, stifling his laughter at her professional pose and goofy pledge.

  
"To find a different brand of makeup to use for battle coverups, because I can see right through it right now-"

  
"Do I have to repeat all of that?"

  
"Yes you do."

  
Laughing, he repeated it to the best of his ability. When he had tried (and failed) to the best of his abilities, Ladybug fixed her eyes sternly on Cat Noir. "And stop taking unnessesary hits for Ladybug, because I am just as important to this team as she is."

  
Smiling softly, Cat Noir repeated the pledge. Nodding in satisfaction, Ladybug patted him on the head and began picking her way over to the food basket on the floor.

  
"You do know that this doesn't mean I won't stop taking hits for you ever, right?" Cat Noir asked, cocking his head to the side as he followed her. Ladybug paused, then shoved him away softly.

  
"You do know that you are impossible, right? Anyways, let's not talk about that right now. There's a basket full of food calling my name!"

  
Cat Noir fondly watched her piling a small paper plate with crossaints, cookies, fruit, and cheese. "I'm confused." He said after a moment. Ladybug ignored his statement until she had sat back down in the blue beanbag, using the red one behind her as a head rest and leaving space for him next to her.

  
"On what?" She asked with a mouth full of food.

  
"When did I become the serious and mature one, and you become the food loving goof?"

  
Cat Noir stiffled a snort as Ladybug's face contorted in protest, and she choked a bit on a cookie. "Since I haven't had sleep or time for a proper meal in a week, that's when. Now, sit your tail on over here, or I just might eat all of this food without you."

  
Smirking, Cat Noir moved to the basket to load his own plate.

 

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the majority of this chapter at two o'clock in the morning while flying over the Pacific ocean, so I'm in a bit of an exhausted daze as I edit this. Lately I have been feeling pretty inadequate and discouraged in my writing abilities and just worth in general, and I wanted to say thank you to all of the kudos, follows, and comments. You all make my day and I love every one of you, hope you enjoy this chapter!

"Okay, okay, okay, how about this one."

  
Ladybug wolfed down another cookie, leaning her head back on the beanbag she was situated on. Cat Noir sat cackling next to her, trying not to choke on a couple of grapes.

  
"Would you rather... have a sleepover with the Bubbler, or- quiet, stop laughing, I haven't finished!' Ladybug swat her partner's arm, who was roaring with laughter, throwing his head back as he did. Little did Ladybug know that Cat Noir technically  _had_ had a sleepover with the supervillain; just without the alter ego. "Okay, sleepover with Bubbler, or go out with Princess Fragerance."

  
Ladybug dissolved into giggles as Cat Noir's face contorted. "Oh, she was the worst!"

  
"Even worse than Time Breaker, or Dark Owl?"

  
"...Okay, maybe the third worst. Come on, don't make me choose, give me a different one!"

  
"No way! You made me do the last one, you don't get any mercy!"

  
Cat Noir snickered quietly. "I can't believe you would rather have a makeover with --Reflekta-- than Chloe..."

  
"Hey! I'd rather look like a supervillian than a bratty diva chick..."

  
Cat Noir mockingly threw a clawed hand over his heart. "Just imagine what Chloe would say if she heard what you said. How --claw--ful she would feel."

  
"Yeah, well..." Ladybug eyed him suspiciously. "Stop dodging the question! Now, choose! Princess or Bubbler!"

  
The blonde groaned and flopped his head on Ladybug's shoulder. "Milady you _wound_  me."  
"Knock it off you overgrown kitten, just answer the question!"

  
"Fine! I choose Bubbler!" Cat Noir felt Ladybug shaking underneath him as she giggled. It turns out that being exhausted and overworked makes everything ten times funnier than it normally would.

  
The game had been going for the past ten minutes. The heroes often played Would You Rather, I Spy, and other games while carrying out some of their hero duties. Especially when days were slow and neither hero wanted to return to their normal life. Ninja was a favorite. Ladybug and Cat Noir would stand on a bumpy surface to make the game more challenging, pulling ridiculous ninja poses and lunging for each other's wrists in rapid and fluid motions. As both contestants obviously had superhuman reflexes, often times the games would go on and on until Cat Noir won. No matter how much his spotted partner protested, Cat Noir definitely had better reflexes. His cat-like abilities were something he jokingly bragged about on a daily basis. Ladybug might be the Video Game Queen, but Cat Noir was the Ninja King.

  
However much they loved Ninja, their absolute favorite game was "The Floor is Lava." At first Ladybug had been a hater of the game, thinking it a cringey internet fad nobody would remember two weeks from then. She had refused to play until a few pedestrians called, "CAT NOIR, THE FLOOR IS LAVA!" while the heroes were socializing in the streets on a particularly slow day. Panicking (the people of Paris had already told him that using his staff wasn't allowed), the blonde hero dived on top of the nearest trashcan he lay his eyes on. He clung on to the lid, his eyes flodding with triumph. Ladybug had rasied her yoyo to take a video, when the lid flipped, sending Cat Noir tumbling into the garbage can unceremoniously, yowling as he disapeared. When he reemerged from the trashcan a few seconds later, Ladybug was rolling around on the floor, howling with mirth, along with several other Parisians and tourists. That night the incident was on the local news, footage from one of the pedestrian's iphone having recorded the entire event. Marinette's ears literally popped with the strain of holding her laughter in. Oh, how Cat Noir had been teased about it. From then on, Ladybug was a massive fan of the game, springing it on clueless civillians and her partner at the most random times: while swinging over town, on patrol, even during the easier and less dangerous akuma attacks. Paris had rarely seen their favorite heroine so carefree and mischevious. Neither had Cat Noir, who wasn't complaining at all. Seeing the love of his life happy and ready to pull a prank, having a good time? Every extra hour spent transformed by his side had given Cat Noir hope for the future. Only seeing Ladybug during akuma attacks progressed to twice a week for patrol, then four times a week for patrol, and finally to almost every day whenever the two had freetime.

  
These games not only built their relationship with each other, but their relationships with the people of Paris. They were a good way to pass time, and get to know their partner without giving away too much about their identities.

  
Not that it mattered much now.

  
"In my defense, the worst thing Bubbler could do was shoot bubbles at us." Cat Noir sat up, reaching for the food basket, grabbing a few pieces of fruit at Ladybug's request. "Princess Fragerance, however, could control our _minds_. I would  _never_ date someone so controling! And not to mention her makeup, that was attrocious... Her perfume was terrible, I would never date anyone who smelled like that twenty four seven..."

  
Ladybug scoffed and sat up, taking the fruit from her partner and plopping it onto her plate. "That's a lot of criteria right there. What, do you have a list of 'yes' traits and 'no' traits in a future girlfriend?"

  
Cat Noir nodded, holding out and mimed reading from his palm as if there was an invisible list written there. "Yes, actually! I've been preparing this for my entire life, so listen up." He ignored Ladybug's snort and mocking over-attentive stare, cleared his throat, and began in a professional voice, "They have to be: brave, smart, beatiful," he wiggled his eyebrows in her direction, and felt a small rush of victory when she blushed slightly, "talented, strong, **paw** sitively breathtaking, an amazing role model for our future kittens- don't give me that look, I'm planning for the future! And... oh yeah, have a magic yoyo that she swings around Paris with."

  
Ladybug gasped dramtically, trying to desperately quench the blush she felt spreading across her entire face at that familiar description (not to mention the "kittens" comment). "I know someone perfect for you!"

  
The blonde cocked his head playfully, wondering how she would take his not-so-disguised confession. "Oh, really?"

  
"Yes! She's brave. Smart. Beautiful." she leaned slightly closer with each word, sending Cat Noir's heart thumping in confusion and excitment. He leaned forward slightly on instinct. "Talented. Just so happens to carry a yo yo. Likes strong, handsome blondes," She reached up to ruffle his hair, her eyes never leaving his. "And the best part... Is that she lives right down the street from me, I can totally set you guys up!"

  
Leaning back, the bluenette laughed at the dismayed expression on her partner's face. After a moment he placed a hand over his heart in mock offense. "Wow, Bugaboo. I'm... flattered?"

  
"As you should be! Have I ever told you that I am a _master_ matchmaker?" Ladybug sent him a conspiratorial wink. Cat rolled his eyes and scoffed

  
"Trust me, I already knew! I mean, you worked your magic on Alya and Nino back when he had a tiny thing for you, although that's obviously over, thanks to how they act in class. Now I'm just wondering if you can work your magic on you and me." He winked flirtatiously at her, hoping she could see the real intent underneath the flirty comment. However, she didn't react; the bluenette completely froze. Moments crawled by, and she said nothing; just sat and stared, her expression becoming more and more frazzled by the second.

  
Cat Noir was about to apologize for anything he did wrong when she choked out, "When did Nino have a thing for Ladybug?! What class?!"

  
Cat Noir realized his mistake with a pang. His face paled, and he gestured broadly as he answered. "Oh, um, he.... didn't? I mean no, wait, but you put him and Alya in a cage together and now they are dating- I mean... um... And no class...." Cat Noir scrambled, looking for an answer that made sense, but nothing came to mind. Ladybug flailed, pushing herself back to the edge of the beanbag, a mortified expression on her face.

  
"How do you know I did that? You weren't there, I don't remember telling ou! How did you know about them in class, and his crush on me?!"

  
A few seconds of silence passed. Neither pair of eyes left the other. Finally, Cat Noir let his head drop into his hands, clenching his hair tightly in frustration, pulling it over his eyes.

  
"Oh I messed this up, didn't I?" He groaned. His countless daydreams of a sunset reveal by candle light, surrounded by rose petals? Gone with one slip of the tongue. Now he had her looking at him as if he had just drop kicked a puppy, her hands covering her gaping mouth. Her face paled, and so did Cat Noir's chances of getting himself out of _this_ mess.

  
"How did you... when did... Cat Noir, do you know?!"

"...Know what?"

"You do know!" Ladybug leapt out of the beanbag, stumbling backwards until her back hit a verticle beam. Breathing heavily, she sunk down with her back on the pole until she sat with her legs bent near her head. To Cat Noir's alarm she began tugging on her bangs (and accidentally pulling out a few strands, to the blonde's concern) and muttering to herself, "He knows, oh my- how did this happen?! Who else..."

  
After a few minutes of Ladybug flicking her gaze from her hesitant partner and her wringing hands, stuttering, Cat Noir watched her take a few calming breaths. Ladybug relaxed her tense muscles, smoothing her rumpled hair. Cat Noir felt guilt crawl like ants over his entire body, because _oh frick. He had really screwed up this time._

  
Eventually Ladybug lifted her head for good. Her expression was calm and composed, but her voice betrayed just how shaken she truly was. "Alright. You know my secret identity. And... this is not a prank?"

  
"Sorry, LB. Not a prank." He crossed his heart and held up his right hand, grateful that her initial reaction wasn't to murder him immediatley. Although, maybe that would have been easier for him to deal with than the obvious mental trauma Ladybug was now undergoing.

  
"Okay," she said more to herself than to him, her eyes glazing as she swept the Parisian city skyline. "You know who I am. It's okay. Everything is going to be --just fine--..." Ladybug shook her head. Her eyes focused on Cat Noir, who was half crouching in the beanbag, his tail swishing and ears flat against his head. Plastering a watery smile on her face, she waved her partner over.

  
Cat Noir climbed hesitantly out of the beanbag and approached cautiously. He sat down carefully a few meters away, doing his best not to alarm her further. Once he was sure she would not surprise attack him with her yoyo, he relaxed slightly and sighed, splayed his legs in front of him and used his arms to prop himself up behind his back. His legs stretched to touch hers in a hopefully comforting manner. As the bluenette didn't pull away, Cat Noir kept his legs there.

  
"It was an accident. I found out during the school trip today."

  
"The school trip, what happened at the... Oh no." Ladybug's confusion melted to concern. "When my classmates tried taking my earrings, I went totally battle mode on them! Oh no, do you think anybody else knows now?! Alya, Nino, Adrien, Alix..."

  
Cat Noir lunged forward when Ladybug's hands flew back to her hair, ignoring the stab of guilt he felt when he heard her say his name. He grabbed her hands in his own, holding them tightly as he sat down cross legged right in front of her. As a model Cat Noir appreciated hair, and how much bad publicity a bad hair day could bring a celebrity of any stature. No way was he letting her rip out her beautiful dark hair; he knew she would regret it eventually. "No no no, Ladybug! It's okay! The only way I know for sure is because my kwami ended up confirming it for me, and he already knew from Dark Owl, right? I made sure, there is  _no_ possible way anybody else knows. They just..." Cat Noir moved his Lady's red gloved hands in his own, rubbing her palms soothingly. "Think you have mad ninja skills."

  
"Well." Ladybug scoffed. "Maybe that will help them forget about how much of a clutz I am, then."

  
"Ptsh, no kidding! Now you'll be known as Ninja-nette!"

  
Ladybug winced as she heard her name. "Huh. I wonder if I'll ever get used to that..."

  
"Used to what?"

  
"Hearing you say my name when," She gestured to herself, shrugging. "I'm all suited up like this."

  
"Yeah, it might take getting some used to. Of course for confusion's sake I'm going to call you Ladybug in the suit but yeah... I mean, it's just so different..." Cat Noir trailed off, losing himself to his thoughts. How weird was it that he knew who _Ladybug was? Under the mask_?-- The information he pleaded for, spent hours  _totally_  not thinking about, followed the Ladyblog for every theory it could post just for some clarification on who his partner was? And finally, just because of a lousy school field trip, he knew? Now that he knew her identity, would things be different? Would they hang out at each other's houses? Could she come to his photoshoots? Could he, dare he even think, ask her out on an actual date?

 

Well. First he would have to reveal himself.

  
Ladybug suddenly scooted over, moving from in front of him to sit by his side. They watched the horizon in silence, each lost in their own minds. After a minute, Ladybug placed her head wearily on his shoulder with a sigh, blinking heavily.

  
"For a girl who has always been so guarded about their identity, you sure are taking things better than expected, milady." Cat Noir said in a soft voice, turning his head slightly to rest his own on her dark hair. She puffed through her nose quietly in a small display of amusement.  
"Exhaustion does funny things to the brain. I'm calm now, but I'll probably wake up and have a heart attack or something. Not be able to leave my room. Never show my face in public again. Productive stuff like that."

  
They sat in silence for a few minutes more. Ladybug's blue eyes were trained on the skyline in front of her. Meanwhile Cat Noir couldn't tear his away from the beautiful girl next to him. He was taller than she was, and with her head on his shoulder he could see parts of her eyes, nose, and mouth. As if the clouds had burst open to reveal the bright, shining sun on a rainy day, all of the pieces of the puzzle he had been trying to shove together sunk into place. Who was she, really? One of Adrien's best friends, Marinette Dupain Cheng. The sweet, kind, quirky baker's daughter. Cat Noir's partner, Ladybug. The brave, stunning, intelligent superheroine that held Cat Noir's heart. In that moment, with her by his side on top of the Eiffel Tower, in the center of the city of love, Cat Noir knew exactly who she was.

  
And he loved her ten times more than he had before, a thought he didn't even know was possible. So much love, it felt as if his heart would burst from happiness. As if he himself would burst from the pure, burning joy he felt in that moment. Cat Noir had to stiffle a purr louder than a lawnmower at the thought, instead reaching a clawed hand to gently stroke her hair.

  
Many minutes more passed without a sound. Cat Noir was almost afraid Ladybug had fallen asleep until he heard her voice whisper quietly.

  
"It doesn't have to be _too_ different though, right? And is different such a bad thing? It's not like I'm a different person... Okay, maybe it might seem like that to you. But I'm still me, right?" She asked, straightening slightly to watch his face for a reaction.

  
A soft smile lit his face. His tail wrapped around her waist, drawing her slightly closer as he shifted his position to half-face her. He rested both hands on the bluenette' shoulders, staring intently into her eyes. "You are still you, milady. And I think this different is going to be pretty miraculous, don't you think?"

  
The soft blush on Ladybug's face was gone in an instant, replaced by a dead look. "Are you.... Kidding me."

  
"...What?"

  
Ladybug shook off his hands, groaning as she stood up. Cat Noir scrambled to his feet as well, alerts flashing in his head as he tried to figure out what was going on. _H_ _ow did I screw up this time_? He asked himself as his red-clad partner marched to the food basket, grabbed another plate, and begun piling food on.

  
"Really? Food? Now?" Cat Noir asked, his expression flattening in exasperation. "I know you're hungry, but we were in the middle of talking!"

  
Ladybug shrugged, her mouth full of crossaint. She swallowed roughly, then said. "We were! Until you made a pun and ruined it!

  
"I only said miraculous! We _have_ miraculous! It's an actual word! Come on, LB, we were having a moment!" He protested, stalking over to the basket himself and grabbing a couple of grapes.

  
"We WERE, until you made a pun and ruined it!" The bluenette plopped down on the floor, the image of grace.

  
Cat Noir smirked at her, cocked his head, and wiggled his eyebrows. "So, you admit we were having a moment?"

  
"Oh, shut up you stupid stray." The response came without hesitation, sending Cat Noir roaring with laughter. He threw a grape at her, which she swatted away, suppressing a smile. He plopped down about as gracefully as his partner did, relishing the cold feel of metal through his suit.

  
"Admit it. We had a moment, and you enjoyed it very much." Cat Noir turned on his side, one hand on his head, the other on his hip in the most cringely flirtatious pose he could think of. She turned, saw his pose, and choked on her roll.

  
"Honey, the only thing I would enjoy very much right now is to throw you off of this tower." Ladybug flipped her pigtails sassily, copying the blonde's pose. His smirk stretched into a full on mischievous grin.

  
"Oh, I'm honey, now?"

  
"What? No, I-"

  
"Using  **pet** names for me already, Bugaboo? I'm flattered, but I think you are **mew** ving this relationship way too quickly!"

  
"No! I didn't mean-"

  
"Look, Ladybug. I know we had a **meow** ment, and you seem like a really **paw** some girl, but I'm simply not ready for this level of **claw** mittment!"

  
Ladybug rolled over to face away from her partner. "You are impossible!"

  
Cat Noir rolled too, rolling over and over until he bumped into her. Peering over her body to look at her face, he plopped his head down on her side. He screwed up the cutest kitten eyes he could.

  
"You mean im **paw** sible?"

  
"Ugh!" Ladybug covered her eyes with her bangs. "I'm not listening anymore!"

  
"But I'm so a **mew** sing! Come one, you love me, right Princess?"

  
Ladybug looked up at him over her shoulder and scoffed, desperately trying to quench the "YES!" begging to be released from her chest, and stop the blush from spreading to where the mask couldn't cover it. "Back to Princess, huh? What happened to your other nicknames for me?"

  
Cat Noir grinned. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to torment you with them at school tomorrow."

  
Ladybug's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. "School..."

  
Cat Noir slapped his forehead, climbing off of his partner to kneel by her side (why did that sound dirty?) "Right! I forgot. Do you-" The words were stuck in his throat, and for some reason he couldn't get them out at first. The anticipation and waiting and dreaming about revealing himself to the love of his life was so great, it was hard to believe it could actually happen in mere moments! "Should I- Ladybug can I reveal my identity to you?" He asked, already flinching back instinctively in case of his all too common rejection.

  
Ladybug stilled. She sat up thoughtfuly, drumming her fingers against her chin. "I guess it wouldn't matter too much, now that I found out your secret identity..." She began hesitantly, hastily crying, "But not yet!" when Cat Noir moved to wrench the ring off of his finger. He froze, looking up at her in confusion.

  
"Why not now? It's dark. Nobody would be able to see-"

  
"No, I know that." She waved her arms, her face screwed up in a way Cat Noir couldn't help but find adorable. "I just... It's dangerous. What if someone saw the light and came to investigate, only to find a detransformed Cat Noir?"

  
"Well, how about I just say my name?"  
"You could, but..."

  
Slight terror coursed through Cat Noir's veins. _She doesn't want to know, she doesn't care, she doesn't actually like me-_  
""I kind of want to figure it out for myself?"

  
Ladybug's slightly embarressed smile was all the cat themed hero needed to know that maybe she did care. Did want to know.  _Might_  actually like him. Before he could agree, she rushed to defend herself.

  
"I know it's kind of dumb, kitty, but since you figured _me_  out, I wanted to see if I could figure  _you_ out too-"

  
"Milady," Cat Noir rose, holding out a gloved hand. Ladybug took his hand and stood up herself. Neither dropped the other's hand. Cat Noir brought her hand to his lips. "I have complete faith that you will find me." He sealed his words with a kiss on her knuckles.

  
This time, neither hero could mask their blushes. Pun intended.

Suddenly, a shrill beep sounded from Ladybug's yoyo. While Ladybug fumbled for it, Cat Noir whipped out his own baton. "Is it an akuma alert?"

"No, just an alarm reminding me that I need to be home now." Ladybug held up the yoyo apologetically, showing the reminder on the screen. "Sorry, _chaton_."

  
Cat Noir hid his small dissapointmet with a smile. "No, it's fine, I need to go home too. School bright and early tomorrow, right?"

  
"Right," Ladybug groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose with a gloved hand. "I'm still not done with the project!"

  
"Neither am I, I still have-"

  
"Cat Noir!" Ladybug slammed a hand over his mouth. "Don't give anything away! I want to figure this out for myself!"

  
"Well," Cat Noir said in a muffled voice, his words half blocked by Ladybug's hand. "There are multiple teachers doing the same project and who went on the same field trip right? I could be anyone!" He wiggled his arms and fingers in a mock spooky way.

  
Striding to the edge of the beam, Ladybug laughed. "Need any help with this food?" She called, her eyes sweeping the messy area.

  
"Nah, I'll just feed it all to my kwami. He's a pig, it'll be gone in seconds, trust me."

  
Ladybug nodded, then unfurled her yoyo. She pulled back an arm, about to cast it and swing away before she cried, "I forgot!"

  
She ran back to her fondingly smiling partner (who quickly wiped the smile off of his face when she tured back around). He was still not full comprehending what was about to happen when she placed both fists firmly on the boy's chest, and pressed her lips firmly on his cheek. "Thanks for tonight," She whispered, her lips touching his ear, before sprinting to the edge of the tower and pitching herself off. She cast her yoyo and swung away, flipping and soaring through the air, no doubt in the direction of the Dupain Cheng Bakery.

  
It took Cat Noir a solid two minutes to react (besides a dark red blush that heated up his entire face) , and when he did, all he could do was let out a strangled whimper. _Did she just kiss me? I think she did, oh my gosh she just kissed me, what the- why, what, when, I wasn't ready for this... or maybe I was too ready and- what?_

  
When the blonde finally released his transformation in a choked voice, Plagg zoomed out of the ring.

  
"Finally! Don't worry kid, I'm on food clean up!" the kwami exclaimed in his usual nasally tone. He dove towards the picnic basket, his paws outstretched in glee as he disappeared into the basket. Adrien plopped down on the edge of the ledge, letting his feet dangle below him. Playing Ladybug's farewell in his head in a loop, Adrien's face couldn't help but blush deeper and deeper with each repeat.

When finally Plagg resurfaced from the picnic basket, a comically noticeable bulge in his stomach, Adrien had stood up and began sweeping away extinguished candles, pillows, and blankets onto the red beanbag. he piled the blue beanbag on top, fastening the two together with bungee cords.  
"Wow, Adrien! You are --red--! I'm guessing the date went welll?" Plagg's voice suddenly sounded in Adien's ear, causing him to jump out of his love-struck daze.

  
"It wasn't a date Plagg. It was patrol." Adrien answered stiffly.

  
"Suuure. A patrol, set with food, beanbags, pillows, and --literal candles--. The only thing you didn't have was cheese, that would have made it perfect!"

  
"...Shut up, Plagg. Just eat the food."

  
"But I already did!" Plagg gestured dramatically with a black paw to the completely empty basket. Adrien scooped it up, but quicky dropped it in repulsion when it was damp to the touch.

  
"Ew, Plagg, did you lick the basket clean?" Adrien's disdain dripped from every word. At Plagg's smug nod, Adrien dropped the basket onto the pile he made. "Remind me to burn this when I get home."

  
Transforming quickly, Cat Noir gathered the bulky bundle in his arms, leaping over the rooftops with it.

  
And he only dropped it twice.

  
Adrien released his trasformation before he had even entered the window, flying through the air as he detransformed. Plagg spun out of control across the room.

  
"Hey, jerk! What's the big idea?!" He yowled in outrage. Adrien igored him, instead striding to his desk, flopping into his chair. and pulling out a pen and notepad. Plagg groaned. "What are you doing this time? You have school tomorrow, shouldn't you have been asleep, like, two hours ago?"  
Adrien just smirked. "Marinette is trying to find me. I gotta make this reveal as memorable as hers was. Now, have any ideas?"

  
Plagg once again gave a mischievous grin, his glowing green eyes magnifying the mischief in his gaze.  
"I _always_ have ideas."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUNDUNDUN!!!  
> I'm curious, what do you guys think will happen next chapter? Comment your guess, things you liked and didn't, and thank you all so much for sticking with me through this story!


	5. Chapter 5

"Plagg, no offense, but all of your ideas are absolutely crazy! None of them will help her find out who I am!"

  
Half an hour after soaring through his bedroom window, Adrien still sat at his desk, trying to come up with something, _anything_ , that would help Marinette make the Cat Noir-Adrien connection without directly revealing his secret identity.

  
Plagg rolled his eyes, shoveling another slice of cheese into his mouth from where he sat atop the computer. "Come on, not all of them are _that_  bad!"

  
Adrien fixed his kwami with a flat look. "Like that one where you suggest I steal her earrings, light the school on fire, and transform right in front of her to 'save her life'?" He made made apostraphes with his fingers, letting his hands fall back into his lap with a huff.

  
"It could work! Pigtail girl gets her earrings back, you get a girlfriend, and I can eat all the cheesy bread I want after the wedding! Perfect plan!"

  
"First of all, not only would stealing her miraculous be an abuse of power, I would probably be flat out _destroyed_  the second I try to get near those earrings. Remember this morning?" Adrien's frustration grew when Plagg snickered.

  
"Oh that was hilarious, you got _whooped_ , you should totally try doing that again-"

  
"SECONDLY!" Adrien interupted, spinning around in his swivel chair, glancing at the clock. He winced: 12:27 AM. "The whole 'cheese after the wedding' part of your plan isn't gonna work. We can't get married until we're older. I checked, it's the law." The blonde sat back in his swivel chair, stretched his legs, and scratched his head in annoyance. "Besides, I can't propose if we aren't dating, and I can't _date_  her until I reveal myself!"

  
"You asked for my help, and here it is on a silver platter!" Plagg yowled. 'If you don't like my suggestions, use the bowls!"

  
Adrien buried his head in his hands, exhaustion mingling with his annoyance. "I'm not relying on a... word randomizer to fix all of my problems, Plagg!"

  
"Come on, I've been using these for thousands of years! They always work!" Plagg swooped down to the bottom drawer handle of Adrien's desk and pulled until the compartment slid out. Inside were three bowls, each filled with tiny slips of paper. In three quick trips Plagg pulled each of the bowls onto the desk. Adrien eyed them in disdain. No matter how much he wanted to complain, he knew he couldn't; Adrien was desperate, and it was getting late.

  
"If you want to be able to romantically reveal yourself, word bowls are the deal, my friend!" Plagg quipped in a mocking voice. He grinned toothily and dived towards the first of the three bowls. Each bowl held either an assortment of verbs, nouns, or adjectives, a set up Plagg claimed to have invented.

  
"Why do I feel like I remember that line?" Adrien let a small smile cross his face momentarily, easing the pulsing tension he felt wrapped around his entire body. He watched his kwami, trying to quash the fond warmth spreading inside of him. At least Plagg was willing to help, right?

  
"I said it on the best day of your life," Plagg responded, his small black paw fishing around the bowl. He yanked a slip out, unfolded it, and read it to himself. Snickering quietly, he repeated the action with the other two bowls. Now cackling to himself, Plagg laid the slips of paper on the desk. It was a small struggle for him, as the papers were bigger than he was, but that didn't stop his mirth.

  
Sighing good naturedly, Adrien scooted foreward. "Let's see what you got, buddy." He rotated his head to read the upside down words, but quickly whipped back to his previous position, his face screwed up in offense. "Plagg, you did that on purpose!"

  
Before him lay the words: **LITTLE CRYING KITTEN**. Plagg howled with laughter. He fell backwards and rocked on his back, his tail lashing with humor.

  
"But it works!" He cried in his slightly nasally voice, his massive green eyes brimming with tears.

"You could go up to her and, and-" His laughing grew so fierce he couldn't continue. Adrien watched his gasping and choking kwami with a dead look. "And, and cry at her! Then she would know it was you!"

  
"Yeah, I don't think so." Adrien crumpled the papers into a small ball, then threw them at the hysterically laughing kwami. It hit him in the face, causing Plagg to stop laughing while he blinked in surprise. "Obviously it's past your bedtime, cat."

  
Plagg zoomed to the bowls again, dodged Adrien's swatting hand, and reached for another ensemble of nouns, adjectives, and verbs. "It's past yours too, little kitten! Come on, let's do another one!"

  
Five minutes later Adrien sat surrounded by slips of paper. Plagg, in his cackling madness, had gone through _every single slip_ , making crazy matches such as "Sneezing Red Goats" and "Running Hairy Papayas". Granted a few almost made sense, such as "Pink Fancy Bracelet" and "Loud Music Hearing", but otherwise they all made no sense whatsoever. Eventually Plagg got bored, zoomed to the fridge to get more cheese, and settled down on top of the computer screen.

  
Adrien rubbed his temples, his elbows on his knees. "Alright, now that _that_  fiasco is over, I need to figure this out. For _reals_."

  
"Oh my cheese, kid- just _tell her_!" Plagg shouted, fed up with his Chosen's life issues and obvious inability to solve even the simplest problem. He rolled off the computer top, tumbling through the air until he caught himself mere inches away from Adrien's keyboard.

  
"I can't!" Adrien cried, gesturing wildly with his arms.

"Why not?!"

"Because she wants to find out for herself!"

"Then why are you worrying about telling her?!"

"Because she hasn't found me yet! I don't know if she ever will!"

Plagg slapped a paw over his forehead, groaning. "It's only been a couple of hours, kid! So what if she hasn't bust down your door at midnight, begging to marry you? She's probably asleep like most other sane people!"

"Most other sane people don't have to worry about the love of their life figuring out their secret identity! Besides, I can't do anything because Ladybug told me not to, but I _need_  to do something!" Adrien stifled a yawn and blinked to clear his blurring eyes. All this bickering was wiping his already depleted energy resserves. He felt the strong urge to just let go, let unconsiousness sweep over him, fall asleep right in his chair; after all, dealing with akumas and photographers and field trips and secret identity revelations were seriously tiring ordeals.

  
Plagg yawned, but pressed on. "If she wants to find you herself, let her!"

"Yeah, like that worked so well before-"

"No, listen to me!" Plagg zoomed up to his holders face, clamping a paw over his mouth. His whiskers twitched in annoyance, his blazing green eyes boring into Adrien's. "Ladybug doesn't know who you are. Ladybug doesn't know  _how_ to find you.  _Adrien_ doesn't act like _Cat Noir_ , or else your identity would have been revealed a whole heck of a lot sooner. Marinette wants to find you. All she needs to know to get her started? Is to  _know you're there."_

  
Plagg released his holder, and floated down to the desk. Settling himself down in a sleeping heap comfortably, he turned his attention back to the boy in front of him. Adrien's expression was slowly shifting. His agitated and confused scowl was twisting into an understanding and determined grin, as if a lightbulb was flickering in his mind, getting brighter and brighter by the second.

"So... I can't tell her who I am..."

"Righto, genius boy-"

"But what you're saying is... She needs to know I'm around?" Adrien sprang out of the chair and begun pacing, his hands behind his back to where his staff would rest when he was transformed. His excitement grew as he said, "And... Once she knows Cat Noir is closer to her than she thought, she'll figure it out herself faster! That way I won't be revealing myself directly... but still helping her find me! Brilliant! Plagg, I-"

Adrien whipped around to see his kwami silent and still, his tiny chest rising and falling. A tiny squeak of a snore eminated from the pile the black cat laid in, with his tail wrapped around his nose.

A soft smile spread over Adrien's face. Gently stepping to his desk, Adrien scooped the small cat into his hands. Plagg grumbled when he was raised, but quickly snuggled closer to his Chosen's hands. Trying to keep his heart from melting (he was a manly man... or so he told himself), Adrien settled Plagg down gently on one of the pillows on the bed. Plagg nuzzled deeper into the pillow, kneading it subconsiously with his paws.

Adrien dressed for bed and turned off the desk lamp. Making sure his windows were closed and secure, Adrien finally made his way to his bed. Lowering himself slowly, Adrien slipped under the blankets until only his head could be seen. Punching his pillow slightly (which he refused to refer as kitten-like kneading), Adrien rested his head. His muscles untensed and relaxed for what felt like the first time in a week. Adrien's eyes fluttered shut as he gave into sleep with a final thought:

  _Tomorrow is going to be a good day._

______________________________________________________________________

  
"OH NO, TIKKI! TODAY IS GOING TO BE A DISASTER!"

  
Tikki watched her chosen scrambling around her attic room, pacing and picking up and setting down random objects, yanking on her hair with one hand while she twisted her earring with the other. Tikki crunched on a cookie thoughtfully, surveying the walls. While they were the same pink as before, the pictures of Adrien had long since been taken down. The room seemed empry without them; Tikki had tried convincing Marinette to hang up pictures of "her new boyfriend", but all the response she got was a flustered snort and desperate denial of having any romantic feelings towards her partner. Marinette's blush grew when Tikki pointed out that she never specified Cat Noir's name. Marinette's stammering attempt of defense reminded Tikki of how her holder looked now.

  
"Marinette, you need to chill out! What are you so worried about?" Tikki asked in her normal squeaky tone. Marinette crashed the second she had gotten home the previous night, giving the two no time to discuss Cat Noir's most recent revelations.

  
"Tikki, Cat Noir knows me secret identity now! Now my family and friends are in danger, and he's not going to want to be my partner anymore, and you're not going to want to be my kwami anymore-" Marinette was cut off from her frantic rant by Tikki's small gasp of indignition.

  
"Not want to be your kwami anymore! What's that suposed to mean?!" The small red kwami cried, her blue eyes brimming with a fire Marinette hadn't seen in a _long_  time, if ever.

  
Marinette paused in her tracks. toeing the floor guiltily. "Well, I just figured that because you always said not to share my identity, you would be mad if it happened, and maybe... not want to... stay...." The bluenette trailed off at Tikki's expression.

  
"Marinette I can't believe you thought this!" She zoomed over to rest on her Chosen's shoulder. "The reason we said no identities was because you were both just figuring out your _own_  identities, it might be too overwhelming to have to cover for someone else's, too! We needed to make sure you wouldn't share your identity at the drop of a hat, so we said you couldn't reveal yourself. Maybe it's been a mistake to keep you from knowing so long. But Marinette, Master Fu was even talking about how a reveal soon would help your teamwork and powers develop! Trust me, it's only been a matter of time before you and Cat Noir discovered each other's identities! Besides, they get easier to discover the longer you have the miraculous, so it's understandable!"

  
"But Tikki!" Marinette scooped her kwami into her hands. She plopped down on the floor, and set the kwami in her lap so that she could fix her hair into twin pigtails. "This wasn't us choosing to reveal to each other! I messed up, and he connected the dots on his own! Aren't..." Marinette finished her pigtails, her voice quieting as she buried her head in her hands. "Aren't you mad that I let that happen?"

  
The bluenette looked up to a warm touch on her forehead, just above where her hands rested. Tikki floated in front of her, smiling softly. "Marinette, I'm not dissapointed! You were protecting your miraculous, and be extension, me! You've been, no offense, an emotional and physical wreck all week. The fact that you are not only still up and ready for school in the morning baffles me! Marinette, you are so much stronger than you think! I'm not dissapointed." Tikki flew forward to plant a kiss on her Chosen's forehead. "I'm proud!"

  
"Thank you, Tikki." Marinette smiled gratefully, and shook her head. She rose confidently to her feet."Alright, Tikki! Are you ready to go?"

  
"Of course I am!" Tikki chirped happily, diving in Marinette's purse. She poked her head out to see Marinette gazing dreamily out the window.

  
"I wonder what Cat Noir is doing right now..."

  
"Probably looking out the window with the same love-sick expression as you have!" Tikki said, giggling at the teenager's embarressed cough. "Do you think he's going to try to reveal himself today?"

  
"No way!" Marinette grabbed her school backpack, checked herself in the mirror for the last time, and shoved her materials for the school project back into her bag. "It's been, like, not even twelve hours since we last talked! I asked him to let me do this myself, and as the sweet, respectful guy he is, I think he's going to let me do this one by myself!"

  
"Right!"

  
Marinette opened her hatch door, grabbed her lunch, kissed her parents good bye, and grabbed the front door handle. "Hey, I think we're going to get to school early today! Besides! It's barely been a night! He wouldn't have been able to plan anything, right? I doubt even _he_  has that type of time, money, and motivation!"

  
Tikki nodded with a large fake smile plastered on her fake, trying desperatley not to burst out laughing. After all, it's not like Marinette could have known EXACTLY how much time, money, and motivation Cat Noir had... right?

  
_No matter what_ , Tikki thought to herself. _T_ _oday is going to be hilarious._

_______________________________________________________________________

  
Marinette was wrong. Heck, she had never been more wrong in her entire life. She realized this as she stood with Alya in the doorway of Miss Bustier's classroom, staring at the massive flower bouquet on her desk. Nobody else was in the classroom, but Marinette knew exactly _who_  had pla- placed, not planted, _placed_  those flowers on her desk.

  
Alya low whistled, and nudged her blushing best friend in the arm. "Wow, girl, something you forgot to tell me?"

  
Marinette said nothing. She approached her desk carefully, as if the bouquet would suddenly disappear if she moved too quickly. Setting her backpack down on the step, Marinette reached for the flowers.

  
"Of course he did," Marinette muttered, sniffing the red, purple, and white petals of flowers should couldn't describe. She recognized tulips and roses, of course, but the others were mysteries to her.

"Of course _who_  did?" Alya slid into her seat next to Marinette's, her "determined journalist" expression glued on her face. Thankfully the bell rang and the rest of the class begun pouring in at that moment, giving Marinette an excuse not to respond.

  
"I'll tell you later," Marinette whispered, gently trying to shove the flowers underneath her desk so nobody else would see them-

  
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

  
Marinette whipped around to see Chloe Bourgeouis standing by the door, a hand cocked on her hip, her lips curved smugly.

  
"I always knew you were pathetic, but so pathetic you send yourself _flowers_  to feel better about yourself? This is a new low, even for a short little freak like you!"

  
Marinette opened her mouth to snap back when Alya lunged towards the blonde girl, her hands outstretched visiously. "You'll pay for that!" Alya growled with a feral gleam in her brown eyes, trying to get around Marinette's blocking arms. Alya tried darting past her best friend, but Marinette held her firmly. Ivan, Kim, Alix, Mylene, Rose, Juleka, Max, and Nathanael all froze from their seats, watching the scuffle unfold before them; Marinette restraining her best friend while Chloe smirked in front of Ms. Bustier's desk.

  
Moments later, Adrien and Nino entered the room. Their lively chatting cut off abruptly as they caught sight of the scene right above their seats.

  
"What's going on?!" Adrien cried, freezing. He was almost knocked over when Nino sqwaked, then sprinted up the steps to help restrain Alya, who was still shaking with anger.

  
'I'm going to kill her!" The brunette reporter snarled, her predatory gaze fixed on the blonde diva in front of her. Chloe just sneered and took her seat next to Sabrina, who looked both concerned and smug.

  
Adrien reached his seat, desperately trying to keep his gaze from sliding to Marinette. He knew the second he let his attention waiver, he wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything else but her deep, blue, dazzling eyes... Setting his bag down carefully, he turned to face Marinette, but kept his eyes trained on Alya.

  
"What happened?"

  
"THAT CHLOE BI-"

  
Marinette cut Alya off hastily, "Chloe said something... well, Chloe-like, and Alya got defensive."  
"She called you a short, pathetic freak that sends flowers to herself to boost her own ego!" Alya cry dripped with protest. She stopped thrashing, throwing her best friend's and boyfriend's restraining grips off. She folded her arms and took a step back. Nino moved around her to look at the flower bouquet under Marinette's desk, then to throw Chloe the dirtiest look he could muster.

  
Adrien, ever the voice of reason, joined his friends at the girls' desk. "Send flowers to herself? We all know that Marinette..." Adrien made eye contact with Marinette. She smiled warmly at him, grateful for his defense. She thought she saw him freeze for a split second, his smile falter when their eyes met, but if he did he quickly recovered, turning to smile convincingly at the rest of the class. "Wouldn't do that!" He reach towards the bouquet under the table and set it on the desk.  
Nino stepped forward to admire the arrangement. Lifting it carefully, he checked the label on the bottom. Chuckling, he set it down. "Dang, Nettie. I've been to this flower shop before, and trust me. A bouquet _this_  size was  _not_ cheap. Who ever bought this for you is  _madly_  in love with you."

  
The class (except for Sabrina, Chloe, and Nathaneal) burst into laughter at the fiery blush that spread rapidly over Marinette's face. She groaned, burying her head in her hands.

  
"Have any idea who it is?" Alix called from her seat, craning her neck to observe the bouquet.

  
"I don't know!" Marinette squeaked, her voice an octave higher than normal. She lifted the arrangement above her head to check for a name. A hand materialized above her shoulder, reaching deep into the bouquet.

  
"Wait, there's a note!" Adrien withdrew a pink envelope Marinette hadn't seen before. He held it high for the entire class to see before handing it to the bluenette next to him. Taking it cautiously, she opened the envelope.

  
"What's inside? A marriage propsal?" Kim shouted, smirking as his friend's blush grew darker.

  
"You'll find out if you stop interrupting me!" Marinette shot him a death glare. He raised his hands in mock surrender, snickering quietly with Alix and Max. Marinette turned her attention back to the envelope.

  
Pulling out a black piece of paper and praying nobody could hear her pounding heartbeat, she read the green text out loud, very aware that the entire classroom was listening in rapture:

  
"'Find me."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, didn't really edit this chapter because of the best thing ever (lack of motivation, yay), so it's gonna sound a bit weird and typo....y. Also I've been writing the majority of this at 1 o'clock at night, so there goes my quality!
> 
> Yeah, I'm not exactly satisfied with this chapter, but it was good practice for writing Marinette. I think I'm better at writing Cat Noir/Adrien, but whatever. Comment what you liked, didn't, hope to see... Thank you for reading! I really appreciate all the follows, kudos, bookmarks, comments, ect! I love you all, don't worry! We're almost done!


	6. Chapter 6

"Kid, have you ever thought that you might just give this girl a heart attack?"

  
Plagg sat in Adrien's backpack, watching his chosen with a slice of camembert in hand. Adrien scrambled around the room, counting lockers and reciting numbers quietly to himself. Finally stopping in front of the right one, he pulled out a small slip of paper, unfolding it to read the numbers written on it.

  
"What? It's not technically breaking and entering." Adrien defended himself as Plagg snorted in disbelief. "Alya gave the combination to Nino in case Marinette ever forgot it while Alya was off chasing akumas." He started spinning the lock on the door handle, his gaze darting behind him to the door every few seconds; after all, if he was caught he would have a whole lot of explaining to do. "Nino gave it to me because he, and I quote, 'would rather not.'"

  
"Wonder what reporter girl would say if she found out that her boyfriend gave you the code?" Plagg floated to the locker. His glowing green eyes shifted to the bag at the teen's feet. "Besides. How did you get all of this so quickly?"

  
Although Adrien's eyes didn't leave the lock, a faint smirk crossed his face. "You would be suprised with what a rich kid with connections can do with enough motivation." The locker door flew open with a click. Whooping quietly, Adrien deposited his gift: an assortment of chocolates and caramels from a fancy shop down the street. Resisting the urge to take a couple for himself, he left a sealed envelope, rearranged the candy to perfection a few times, and closed the locker. Scooping Plagg into his pocket, Adrien half tiptoed, half sprinted from the locker room, mentally high fiving himself.

  
The candies were the third gift so far, and he had to say, Marinette's reactions jut got better and better. When Marinette opened her locker in between her first and second classes to a full locker of self-care lotions, bath bombs, and facial masks, it took all of Adrien's self control not to bust out laughing. Marinette had stood, dumbstruck, as she took in the gifts before her. Alya snatched the envelope taped to the door, waved it in her best friend's face, and tore it open.

  
"'CATch me if you can'? What does that mean?" Alya asked, oblivious to the fact that the entire locker room was listening in.

  
Marinette gripped her ponytail and tugged, her face red, covering her eyes with her hair. "That stupid cat. I'm going to die. He's going to kill me and they'll have to find a replacement for me."

  
Adrien had to excuse himself from the room at that part. Unlike Alya, who was completely lost, Adrien knew _exactly_  what job Marinette would need a replacement for.

  
Adrien reached the courtyard where gym was held stealthily. Nobody noticed as he quickly snuck onto the field where balls were being thrown left and right. Amongst the chaos of dodgeball, nobody noticed Adrien slipping away and reappearing.

  
Throwing himself at the nearest ball he saw, he palmed it and retreated a few steps, surveying the field. He, Nino, Kim, Nathanial, Rose, and Marinette were against Alix, Sabrina, Ivan, Juleka, Alya, and Mylene. Chloe lounged on the sideline. No doubt she had refused to play.

"Hey, man! Where've you been?" 

 

Adrien barely spared his best friend a glance as he honed in on his first target: Alix. "What are you talking about? I've been here!" At Nino's disbelieving look he added, "I'm just so magestically stealthy that nobody has seen me."

"Whatever you say dude- Ivan at two o'clock!"

Adrien spun himself sideways. A ball whizzed by his ear, striking the wall with force. "Thanks, buddy."

"Don't mention it."

  
Aiming the ball he held carefully at Ivan's middle, he ran forward a few steps, pulled his arm back, and threw it with all of his might. It soared through the air, and before Ivan knew what was happening, struck him in the hip. Nino slapped Adrien a high-five.

  
"Nice shot, Adrien!" A voice called from behind him. Grinning, he turned to thank the voice, but faltered when his eyes fell upon her.

  
Marinette stood, poised to throw, her arm behind her head as she took aim. Now focused, she let her arm rip forward, sending the ball slicing through the air to hit Kim in the knee. Marinette's dark hair had broken free of her pigtails, creating a sheet of black that rippled around her shoulders, swishing at her slightest movement. Her arms and legs were well toned, tightening as she ran, turned, and threw. Her blue eyes blazed with a fire that Adrien couldn't help but stare at forever-

"Adrien!"

Adrien felt the wind rush out of him as a body hit his, sending them both slamming to the floor. Instinctively Adrien rolled, absorbing the impact of the fall and letting the other person fall on top of him, clutching them tightly. Jerking to a halt, Adrien groaned in pain. Already his muscles had started aching, and he was sure a bruise would form. Opening his eyes, screwed shut from the fall, he saw the same eyes he had been admiring seconds before shining down on him, brimming with concern. Marinette lay on top of him, her arms bracing his head. Adrien swore his heart stopped.

"Adrien! Adrien, are you alright?!" Marinette's eyes widened as she realized her position, scrambling off of the blonde. Marinette helped Adrien to his feet, thankfully not noticing his dazed eyes and flaming red cheeks.

"Are you okay?" Marinette tucked a strand of hair behind her ear nervously. "Are you alright?'  
Adrien shook his head to clear it, smiling reassuringly. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. What happened?"

"Ivan and Alix threw two balls at almost the same time, both aimed right at you. They almost got you in the face."

"So you.... tackled me?"

Marinette froze. Adrien could practically see her panic; she had just acted like Ladybug. In front of a civillian. Again! 

"Well, I saw it coming and, um, well. It might hurt so I, um..."

"You made sure I didn't get a concussion." Adrien finished for her, smiling softly as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I would have been completely clobbered if you hadn't knocked me out of the way. Thank for saving my life!" He added jokingly. Marinette relaxed immedeatly, laughed, and said the pleasure was all hers; she would gladly do it again for a friend any time.

Adrien had to convince himself that the sting he felt was from the fall. Not for the 'friend' comment. It's not like he was vain or anything.

The two quickly jumped back into the game. It had heated up enough that pretty much nobody noticed the two student's absense, further confirming that Adrien's mid-game delivery went unnoticed. By the time the game ended both sides were down to one person each. Alya was triumphant when Nino fell to the floor, begging to be put out of his misery. The class ended with Alya's team triumphant, and Nino shamed for life.

During passing period, Adrien and Kim were talking about basketball next to Adrien's locker when they heard an exasperated cry of, "NOT AGAIN!"

Stifling a smile and exchanging it for a hopefully realistic curious expression, Adrien rounded the corner. Marinette stood with a hand slammed on her face in the biggest face palm he had ever seen in his life. Including the ones Chloe had demonstrated on a daily basis.

Speaking of which, Chloe looked about ready to implode. There was no way Marinette or anybody (except for Chloe, of course) could have enough money to send themselves expensive chocolates,  _and_ self care supplies,  _and_ flowers. That obviously meant Marinette had a secret admierer, which didn't seem to register.

"What- but- who?!" Chloe sqwuaked, flapping her arms slightly. "Who would give Maritrash so much attention? They should be giving their gifts to me!"

  
She went ignored as the rest of the class pressed in on all sides, throwing Marinette's privacy out the window as they grabbed for the note.

 

"What does the note say?"

"Do you know who it is yet?"

"This note is adorable! It says, 'These chocolates are sweet but you're sweeter!"

"Whoever sent these has a _terrible_  sense of humor. Nice pick up line, though!"

  
Adrien saw Marinette's eye twitch at the comment, her lips quirk up in a disbelieving grimace.

  
"Once you find this guy, keep him. He must be filthy rich!"

  
"Maybe the money can make up for those pick up lines?"

  
"Hey!" Marinette exclaimed, turning to find who made those last remarks. "i don't care about his money!"

  
"But it _is_ a nice perk. Can I have one?" Kim asked, darting his hand toward a chocolate caramel cream. Marinette slapped his hand away.

  
"Not now! Class is starting soon!" Marinette glanced at the clock, showing only three more minutes to get to the next class. At Kim's disheartened puppy-dog eyes, she sighed goodnaturedly. "At lunch, Kim. You can have one at lunch."

  
Rolling her eyes fondly as Kim left the room, skipping and fist pumping in triumph, Marinette shoved back the contents of her locker, still grumbling slightly about the money comments. Adrien felt a slight prickle of guilt; he hadn't thought of a way for her to store any of her gifts once he gave them to her. Thankfully, though, the gifts got smaller, so storage space hopefully wouldn't be a problem for much longer.

  
Hopefully.

  
"Hey, man, can we talk?" Nino approached Adrien, a glint in his eye. Nodding, he followed him to a hallway not far from their next class. Then paused.

  
"What's up?" Adrien smirked. "I'm not in trouble, am I-"

"You're Marinette's secret admierer, aren't you?" Nino interupted, an unbelieving smile on his face. 

"....No?"

"Admit it."

"Admit what."

"You're her admierer!"

"I'm not!" Adrien's eyes darted to the door of the classroom nearby, gesturing wildly. "Keep your voice down!"

"You are!"

"I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Admit it!"

"I won't!"

"What are we, five?" Nino cried and threw up his hands in exasperation.He let out a puff of breath, then fished a small rectangle of paper out of his back pocket. "Bro, I found the receipt of the flowers on the floor when you and Marinette took a little tumble during gym class. Also," A smile spread over his face at Adrien's mortified flush, "You haven't been able to take your eyes off her since yesterday. Don't think I haven't noticed. I might be a guy but I still have instincts."

  
Adrien gaped his mouth, searching for excuses, before finally giving up with a groan. "Fine! You caught me." He raised a hand to his temple and nose, shielding his eyes. "I've been leaving the notes. And gifts."

  
"Hah! I knew it!" Nino punched his friend on the shoulder, a massive smirk on his face. "When did you start liking Marinette, hmmm?"

  
Ignoring Nino's cackle, Adrien decided on a story that wasn't exactly a lie...but wasn't exactly the truth, either. "I've liked her for a long time, but just kept... denying it until yesterday. I guess getting thrown on the floor and completely dominated was... eye opening?"

  
Nino blinked. "I don't think you understand how dirty that sounded." He said slowly, smirking.

  
"... What do you mean?"

  
"... Yeah, never mind. Come on, lover boy. Class is starting soon."

  
Nino lead his confused friend down the hallway. He could barely contain his excitement. How thrilled would Alya, the biggest Adrienette shipper of all time, react when she figured out who Marinette's secret admierer was? And of course he, Nino, wold probably get some sort of reward for figuring it out first-

  
Adrien stopped in the middle of the hallway, grabbing onto Nino's arm and jerking it back.

  
"Nino, I have to go back." Adrien said, his face paling. He turned to go, but Nino tugged back on his arm.

  
"Why? Nobody's gonna find out, bro, you already left a gift. Besides, class is gonna start any second now-"

  
"I know, but-" Adrien ran his hands through his hair, subconsiously striking the perfect model-in-distress pose. Nino would have almost wished for a camera (not for himself of course) if the sudden desire to slap his friend hadn't overcome him. "I need to leave one more gift before lunch, and if I don't get this one now I won't be able to until after lunch, and I _need_  to because I need her to find out that I'm her secret admierer!"

  
"But-"

Adrien plowed on, a frantic look in his eye. "But I don't want her to because what if she doesn't like me? What if she is already in love with someone _else_! Nino I have to leave that gift or I'll be single and lonely forever, alone without love! So I have to leave the gift now because the teachers won't let me go to the bathroom during class anymore because I've already been a million times! And if I ask again their all going to think I have constipation or some other stomach issue and my dad's gonna keep me home forever!"

  
The blonde plopped down on the floor, groaning, and curled into a ball. Nino stared at him, blinking slowly, because what the frick was that?

  
"That was.... tense." Nino shook his head, then squatted next to his friend. He patted his hand on Adrien's shoulder in comfort. "You've been holding that one in for a while, haven't you?"

Adrien spoke without moving his head. "It's been a crazy couple of days, yes."

The bell rang. Nino sighed, "Alright, buddy, I'll make you a deal. You get your butt off the floor and I'll help you deliver your gifts."

"...Really?"

"Yes, really! Now, get up!" He hoisted Adrien to his feet and nudged him in the direction of their next class. "We're already late! I hope you have a good excuse prepared..."

 

 

  
He couldn't stop looking at her. She was so determined, so focused, so... so...  _beautiful_  that he couldn't pay attention. How could he? A literal goddess-

  
_"Adrien?"_

  
-sat mere feet from the desk he worked at. He probably looked like the biggest dork, his eye glazed, a goofy grin plastered on his face, his hand resting on his propped up fist... But-

  
" _Adrien? Dude?"_

-she hadn't put her hair up yet! There it was, hanging in a sheet around her shoulders, the black perfectly reflecting the sunlight, making her hair appear a blue that went perfectly with her eyes-

  
_"Should I hit him?"_

  
-and smile! She laughed at something someone said-

  
_"Yeah, let's knock him out of cuckoo land."_

  
-he wasn't paying attention to who. How could he when she was all there was to see? The only thing that could tear his attention away from her-

  
" _Adrien_!"

-was probably an akuma, Hawk Moth wearing a Darth Vader mask and claiming to be his father (like that would ever happen), maybe a jack hammer to the nose, croissant buffet bar, or-

 

"ADRIEN!"

 

Or maybe that. Adrien yelped and clutched his head, rubbing where Kim and Alix had just smacked simultaneously. The two cackled and fist bumped. Nino shook his head, exasperated.

  
"Consider this as pay back," Kim snickered, pulling his portion of their project closer.

  
"Pay back for what?" Adrien asked, snapping fully out of his trance. Kim said nothing, just smirked. With a scoff Adrien remembered. "Oh, pay back for when I shoved you into the Seine yesterday? And you flipped out?"

  
"Yeah, Kim, that was _hilarious_! I'm so glad I caught that on camera!" Nino dug into his pocket, whipping out his phone. He had just turned it on when Ms. Bustier materialized out of thin air in that way only a teacher could accomplish.

  
"How's the project going, Nino?" Her smile was genuine but pointed. Guiltily, the teen slipped the phone back into his pocket.

  
"Good, Ms. Bustier."

  
"Good!" The red headed teacher's eyes gleammed with mischef. And was that a picture of Kim as your lock screen?"

  
The group turned to Nino, Kim's face wrinkled in confusion and mild horror. Nino's jaw flapped as he stammered to explain himself.

  
''it was a joke, the picture I got yesterday of Kim soaking wet, and I forgot to change it back-"

Chuckling quietly, she turned to visit another group. "Let's try not to get distracted, okay?"

The group watched her go. Once she was bent over Ivan's table, Kim side eyed Nino.

"Bro, I'm flattered and all, but I have a girlfriend, kind of."

"Well I have a girlfriend, really, and shut up," Nino grumbled, changing the lockscreen to a picture of him, Alya, Marinette, and Adrien.

After Nino put his phone away they got back to their project. They had to create a presentation (slide show, power point, poster, video, ect) about Parisian culture. The project had to display the food, fashion, culture, and landmarks of Paris, featuring original pictures they had taken the day before.

Adrien's group chatted while they worked. Alya's nomination was discussed with excitement. She was already in the lead by a thousand votes, but the competition was fierce; she needed all the votes she could get. 

Meanwhile, Marinette was having a mental break down. Three gifts in one day! She was too exhausted to deal with this! Cat Noir had of course kept his word to keep his identity a secret, but this was ridiculous! He might as well just storm into the class room, sweep her off of her feet, whisk her away and-

  
Marinette blushed as her train of thought derailed _quick_. Squashing images she didn't want (kind of) out of her head, she turned back to the page she was working on. So far they had made impressive progress. They were making a poster sized flip book, with one massive page dedicated to each part of the culture. Juleka was actually pretty handy with a pencil, Rose had been doing scrapbooking her entire life, and Alya had the determination and sass to make up for what she missed in the "artistic" department for dramatic flair. The book looked amazing, but only because they had spent a lot of time after school yesterday slaving over it. Combining that with other homework assignments and meeting up with Cat Noir last night, Marinette was ready to collapse on her feet.

  
Tikki nudged her ankle from under the table. Marinette shook the fuzz from her head and looked down at the construction paper and her own hands that she had just smothered with glue. Muttering an apology, she asked Ms. Bustier if she could be excused. She ignored Alya's concerned glance as she left the room.

  
When she reached the bathroom the first thing she did was lock the door and make a break for the sink. Tikki zoomed out of her small purse.

  
"Marinette, you shouldn't lock public doors anymore when there isn't an emergency! You know it's not allowed!"

  
"I know Tikki but- Can you believe him?!" Marinette groaned, splashing her cheeks (careful to avoid her eyeliner) and chin with water. "I ask him to let me found out on my own and what does he do? Leaves me flowers! Self-care supplies! Chocolates that cost more than a month's worth of my allowance! I feel like I should know who he is but I just don't!"

  
"Well, make a list! What do you know about him? What are you curious about? You have a smart brain, Marinette! Use it!" Tikki dove into Marinette's bag for the small notepad she kept in there. She took the paper from the struggling kwami and flipped to a new page.

  
"Well, I know he's..." Marinette eyed Tikki hopefully. The kwami just blinked expectantly. "Um... Tikki?"

  
"Oh, no!" Tikki giggled. "You get to figure this one out your  _self_!"

  
Marinette sighed and scooped the kwami into her purse. "Well, it was wort a shot. I should probably head back now. I think I can focus now."

  
"Good job!" Tikki's muffled voice sounded from her purse. Smiling, Marinette walked down the hallway. She turned the corner when suddenly a force hit her. Marinette tumbled to the floor, instinctively cradling her purse to protect Tikki inside.

  
"Marinette?!"

  
The girl raised her head to see Nino sprawled on the floor, looking mortified as he scrambled to help her up, tucking something into his pocket as he did.

  
"Nino? What are you doing?" Marinette asked once she was standing and had dusted herself off.  
After a moment's hesitation he cried, "Bathroom!"

  
"Isn't the guys' bathroom that way?" Marinette gestured to the opposite hall.

  
Nino chuckled guiltily. "Yep, sorry, I'm tired, I don't know what happened, sorry, I'll just, ahem," he tripped over his own feet in his haste to head down the hall, "be over there... yeah."

  
Marinette watched him go, confused. Shrugging, she ducked back into the classroom. Alya watched her sit down, concern still apparent on her features.

  
"Girl, are you sure everything is okay?"

  
"Yeah, I'm good. I just ran into Nino while walking down the hall, though. He looked kind of shaken up, looked freaked out the somebody was in the hallways."

  
"Really?" Alya's eyes narrowed slightly. "I'll be back soon."

  
She stood up to leave, but Marinette tugged her back into her seat. "Whoa there, easy girl. He's probably just tired. We  _all_ are. I know that look in your eye, that's your 'I will get to the bottom of this, even if there's no bottom to get to" look. He's your boyfriend. Not an interveiw."

  
"Right..." Alya smiled and shook her best friend off. "Don't worry, I'm just going to make sure he's okay. He's been acting a bit iffy today. Just going to check in on him."

  
"Okay. I hope he feels better." Marinette called. Alya marched out of the classroom, unaware of Adrien's horrfied full body cringe just a few desks behind her.

 

 

 

 

Nino should never have agreed to this. He bumped into Marinette seconds after he left; what if he had broken and told her about her admierer? Then Marinette would have a heart attack, Adrien would hide in his room for the rest of his life, and Alya would be _way_  too happy about all of this.

  
Not that he minded if she was happy or not. He loved her, but sometimes she got a little bit... carried away.

  
Sneaking into the locker room, he crept to Marinette's locker. _I'_ _m doing this for Adrien, I'm doing this for Adrien_ , Nino repeated in his mind, feeling like a creep. He fished out Marinette's locker combination (that he had, ironically, given to Adrien weeks ago) from his pocket, read the code, and started spinning the knob. A few seconds later he was in. He threw open the door and placed the small package inside. Adrien had told him that the note was inside the package, so all he had to do was tranport the small box carefully. Adrien didn't tell him what was inside.

  
All Nino could do was hope it wasn't something dirty.

  
Breathing a sigh of relief once the package was visible and perfectly in place, Nino turned to leave the room. He froze. His blood turned to ice and his heart sank to the bottom of his stomach.

  
She stood in the doorway. Her questioning face consumed his vision. A look he could barely _identify_ , a look he didn't even think was possible on someone as strong and fearless covered her face. One hand on the open door, a betrayed, broken expression in her eyes. Her glasses magnified the hurt. Her voice wavered slightly.

  
"Nino?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MWAAHAHAHAHAhAHHA! CLIFF HANGER!  
> Sorry it's taken so long to finish, I had a week-ish long camp, family and friends in town, and a rewatch of Sherlock to start.  
> I actually REALLY like this chapter! it was so much fun to write and reread, I hope you all enjoy!  
> HOLY CRAP THANK YOU ALL FOR THE KUDOS, COMMENTS, AND BOOKMARKS! I have almost 250 kudos on this uncompleted work alone and as someone who just started fanfics a couple of months ago? I'm blown away!  
> Guys the reveal is getting cloooooseer! Comment what you liked, what you didn't, how you think the reveal is gonna happen, and what's in the package! Thank you all SO MUCH!  
> Also. What did you all think about Reverser?


	7. Chapter 7

"Alya, I promise, this isn't what it looks like."

  
Alya scoffed and crossed her arms, glaring at her boyfriend from the doorway. "Oh, yeah? So you  _aren't_  sneaking out of class to leave a mysterious package in my _best friend's locker?"_

  
"Well, yeah, but I can explain!" Nino lunged forward to grab Alya's arm, who had whipped around to walk away. "Alya, I promise... I'm not her secret admierer."

  
"Really?" She sneered. She yanked her arm free and begun marching down the hallway. "Well, it sure looks that way to me! How did you even know her locker combination?"

  
"Alya, you gave it to me just in case she needed to get into her locker while you were filming an akuma attack! You know how crazy she can be about her locker, especially when her purse is in there!"

  
Alya's foot steps faltered sightly, but she marched on, not making eye contact with the boy who was desperately trying to defend himself. "Well, that doesn't change the fact that you were sneaking into her locker _during class_! That alone puts you at suspect number one!"

  
"Alya, listen to me!" He grabbed her wrist, immedeatly releasing it. All he wanted was her attention, not hurt her. She stopped walking, still facing forward stubbornly. She closed her eyes tightly, squeezing a few tears onto her cheeks. Nino reached for both of Alya's hands, holding them softly, trying to ignore his heart shattering at her tears. After she didn't yank away, he continued. "I'm not Marinette's secret admierer. Did you see those flowers? Those chocolates? The self-care stuff? I don't even know where to get those, much less know what half of those things are!"  
Alya tried to stifle a snort, glaring at a doorway down the hall. Nino allowed a small smile to creep across his face.

  
"Besides? Why would I give all those things to Marinette when I already have the coolest, bravest, smartest, most _stunningly_  beautiful girl in the world?" Nino took a step closer and made to hug his girlfriend. Alya put her hand on his chest to stop him, still not meeting his eye.

  
"That doesn't explain why you snuck out of class to go to her locker, Nino. Anybody-" Her voice cracked. Nino felt a pang as he watched Alya recompose herself, obviously angry at the emotion she was showing. "Anybody can say nice things. I want to know _why._ "

  
"Because I know who her admierer is, and he asked me to deliver it for him."

  
Alya snorted, crossed her arms, and finally made eyecontact, glaring defiantly. "Oh, yeah? Why doesn't he drop it off himself if he's so _committed_ , then?"

  
"Because he's a paranoid little drama queen, that's why."

  
"Who is."

  
"... What?"

  
"Who's her admierer, and where's your proof?" Alya stepped back to lean against the wall of the hallway, staring coolly at her boyfriend.

  
Nino didn't even need to think twice before blurting out, "Adrien! Adrien likes Marinette!"

  
"... What?" Alya's startled blinking gave Nino a small string of hope. "Adrien?"

  
"Yes!" Nino laughed, raising his hands to cup his nose and mouth, relief flooding through him; he might just get out of this unscathed!

 

'Where's your proof?"

  
Nino pulled out the flower receipt and held it out for her. She took it and read it; Adrien's name was on the custom order slot. "Adrien confessed before this class. I found the receipt when he and Marinette fell in gym. I've also noticed him looking weird recently a lot, especially around her, he's been sneaking out of class at the most random times all day, and he's been trying to get me to watch rom-coms with him, so he  _has_ to be in love"

  
Alya's glare was slowly melting away to a confused grimace. "When did they fall? Rom-coms... Wait a second, how do I know this isn't fake? Some sort of, of coverup?"

  
Nino, as much as he tried, couldn't keep back the deadpan expression that quickly fell over his features. "Alya. You're a journalist. I'm a student who works as a DJ on the side. One of those flowers from Marinette's massive bouquet would take up my _entire allowance_. For a year! I don't have enough money for a side chick."

  
Alya was silent. She didn't say anything, each tense moment plunging Nino deeper and deeper into what was sure to be his doom. After a few tense seconds Alya couldn't hold it in a anymore. She burst into laughter. She looked thoroughly dissapointed in herself as she tried to stop, but apparently couldn't. Doubled over, she pounded on her knees with her fists, cackling uproariously. Nino glanced around quickly, hoping the girl's laughter wouldn't bring any unwanted attention from teachers or staff.

  
"Um... What's so funny?" Nino questioned cautiously.

  
Alya looked up with a smirk, choking out words through her mirth. "Oh my gosh, Nino, you should have seen your _face!_ You looked so _scared!_ "

  
Alya fell to the floor, a howling mess. Nino stood, terrified, looking down. Alya's mood had just made a 180 back flip, and he had no idea what to do. Was she going to kill him? Did she forgive him? Should... he run?

  
"Um, Alya? Are you-" Nino gulped and leaned down as close as he dared. "Are you okay?"

  
She flipped her hair out of her face and rose, still snorting. "Yeah, no I'm fine, I just- oh my gosh you just spilled _everything_!" Finally calming down, she took a deep breath, smirking at Nino's growing terror. "Nino, I already knew that you weren't Marinette's admierer!"

  
"You... you did?"

  
"Yeah! Of course you couldn't be her secret admierer! You know you're stunning girlfriend was a reporter! You would be caught in seconds! And besides. I love you, but no way do you have enough money for a 'side chick'." Alya's air quotes snapped Nino out of his mortification. Blinking slowly, his deadpan returned as everything begun to sink in.

  
"You knew I wasn't her admierer..."

  
"Yep!"

 

"And you let me think I broke your heart..."

  
"I should be an actor, honestly, I was pretty good."

  
"...When you already knew that it was Adrien."

  
Alya tapped her finger to her chin and shrugged. "Actually, that part was new to me. I just figured that you probably knew who it was, since you were acting so suspisiously in class this period."

  
Nino gaped at her. "So this entire thing was just a ploy to figure out who Marinette's secret admierer was?"

  
Alya did a small curtsey. "I did pretty well, didn't I?"

  
He burried his head in his hands and groaned. "Alya, I thought I was in trouble! I thought you were gonna kill me! I thought I had actually destroyed our relationship!" He peeked through his fingers to see Alya with a little notebook, humming to herself as she crossed out names and circled Adrien's.

"I hate you so much."

  
Alya snickered and put away the little notebook. "No you don't."

  
"Yes I do."

  
"Lies!"

  
"She-demon."

  
"The hottest she-demon you'll ever know!"

  
"I hate you."

"Aw! No, you love me."

"Fiiiiine...." Nino sighed, shaking his head. "You're right," Nino pulled her close to him, smirking. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I do." He pulled back slightly to place his lips on hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into the kiss, smiling.

A few seconds later they pulled away, both blushing furiously, their eyes locked together. "We've been out of class too long," Alya said, running a hand through her boyfriend's hair. "We should head back so the teachers don't catch us.'

Nino grinned, slowly removing his hands from where they had found their place on her hips. "More like to interrogate Adrien. I still can't believe you gave me a heart attack like that, you crazy girl."  
Alya snorted, and the two began their walk down the hall hand in hand. "What can I say? Operation Interrogation isn't dead yet!"  
"...I still hate you."  
"I expect nothing less."

 

 

 

  
Adrien's eyes bolted to the door every few seconds, his entire body fidgetting. Alya and Nino had been gone for quite some time, and it was seriously starting to concern him. Adrien knew just how inquisitive (and sometimes, overdramatic) Alya could be when confused, upset, or not given details the _exact second_  she wanted them. If things ended up exploding out there, Nino would be more than happy to pass the blame over to Adrien, who would face Alya's complete and total wrath. Alya's anger tended to... _carry,_ sometimes, meaning even those not to blame faced Alya's full force of anger. Adrien shivered to wonder how much pain someone _to_   _blame w_ ould be in. Protective Alya was Dangerous Alya

  
He had faced some pretty nasty akumas in his time. Alya scared him more than at least half of them. 

  
"Wonder where Nino's gone?" Kim asked, following Adrien's gaze to the door. He pushed part of their project aside, picked up a few photographs and compared them.

  
Alix snickered, surveying the classroom with mirth in her eyes, "Speaking of, where's _Alya_  gone?"

  
The athletes side eyed each other mischievously before making smooching noises and fake falsetto giggles to each other. Alix twirled her short hair around a finger mockingly while Kim turned around in his seat to run his hands up and down his back suggestively. Adrien scoffed at the scene, some of the tension rising off of his shoulders at his friends antics.

  
Kim suddenly stopped and dropped his arms, instead whistling. "Here they come now!"

  
All of the tension came hurtling back, slamming into Adrien as he whipped himself around so fast he nearly got whiplash. Nino walked into the classroom, an exasperated smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. He took his seat by Adrien just as Alya slid through the doors quietly, a more obvious grin on her face. While Kim and Alix teased Nino about his wherabouts, Adrien watched Alya sit down at her table, whisper something to Marinette, then lean back in her chair slightly to make eye contact with him. Raising her eyebrows, she gestured quietly to her phone, sneakily concealed under the table. Adrien shut his mouth, which had been hanging open in absolute terror, and nodded his head.

  
Adrien turned on his phone to see an unread message. He quickly opened it, scolding himself for being so scared.

  
**Alya** : Well, well, well.

  
**Adrien** : Um.... hi?

  
**Alya** : Well. Well. Well. Well. Well well well well well well well well well.

  
**Adrien** : Jut tell me what happened, and exactly how much longer I have to live

  
**Alya** : Fourteen seconds. Run.

  
Adrien nearly gave himself whiplash again turning to look at Alya. She narrowed her eyes playfully and shook her head. Rolling his eyes, Adrien furiously typed out a message.

  
**Adrien** : Do you find joy in terrifying me?

  
**Alya** : Is there anything for you to be terrified of?

  
**Alya** : Are you _guilty_  of something?

  
**Adrien** : Just tell me what you know, crazy.

  
**Alya** : Hm... might want to take that back. Especially because I'm sitting next to your little CRUSH and could spill EVERYTHING...

  
Adrien's gaze darted over to Alya, who was grinning smugly at him. She raised her hand, her index finger mere inches from the back of Marinette's head. Adrien shook his head frantically. Alya moved her finger closer, her eyes daring him to stop her. Adrien turned desperately to Nino.

  
"Bro, help me out, your girlfriend is insane!"

  
Nino continued on with his work and steady chatter with Kim and Alix, barely raising his head to respond. "No can do, you're on your own."

  
Adrien groaned, looking back to Alya, then picking up his phone.

  
**Adrien** : Alya. Please. Don't tell her anything. Why are you mad at me?!

  
**Alya** : I'm not mad at you, Sunshine!

 

 **Alya** : Just making sure you know your place in the world.

  
**Adrien** : That doesn't make any sense!

  
**Alya** : Yes it does! ....Somehow!

  
To Alya, this was just another game. Something more for her to put her nose in. More gossip to know and be involved in just for the sake of knowing and being involved. Alya had nothing to lose. Adrien, on the other hand... If his identity was revealed here, _now,_ without time to explain, and by Alya of all people? He loved Alya, she was one of his best friends, but he had everything to lose! He could lose his entire relationship with Marinette, with or without the mask!

 **Adrien** : Don't you do it. I see your finger inching closer, don't you DARE do it.

  
The second Adrien sent the text he knew he was done for. He watched Alya's grin freeze on her face, then melt away to a terrifying smirk. Alya slowly glanced up from her phone, one finger frozen in mid-air behind her best friend's head. Adrien and Alya made eye contact for one horrible second. Alya's lips twisted into a maniacal, almost psychotic grin.

  
Then she jabbed her finger into the back of Marinette's head.

  
"Ow!" Marinette cried, her hand flying back to grab Alya's finger. Alya tried tugging it away, but Marinette held on tightly. "What was that for?"

  
"Oh, I just wanted to talk about something important!" Alya said loudly enough for Adrien to hear. Adrien forced his face into a neutral, mildly curious expression. The only thing that threw the look were his eyes, wide with pleading.

  
Marinette sighed. "What is it?"

  
Alya held Adrien's pleaded gaze for brief second, before turning to Marinette again. "Oh, I forgot. Sorry!" She smiled unapoligetically, beaming at her best friend.

  
Marinette shot Alya a look, then released her finger. "If you weren't gonna tell me anything, you didn't have to jab me in the head." She mumbled, then turned back to her work.

  
Adrien let out a sigh of relief, then turned back to his own work. He subtly checked his phone when Ms. Bustier's back was turned.

  
**Alya** : You're welcome.

  
**Adrien** : What was that for?!

  
**Alya** : Fun!

  
**Adrien** : I hate you.

  
**Alya** : Funnily enough, I've been told that multiple times today.

  
**Alya** : Now go back to work, before we're caught. I won't say anything, but I want a full update soon!

  
Adrien read the last text, then slid his phone into his pocket.

  
"Isn't she great?" Nino asked, causing Adrien to jump. He had been watching the entire scene unfold and reading over the model's shoudlers.

  
Adrien scoffed. "Oh she's great, alright.... A great pain in the neck." He finished with a mumble. Nino just chuckled and slid another couple of pictures and papers Adrien's way.

  
"Let's finish this project, already. It's lunch next and those chocolates of Marinette's look delicious!"

 

 

 

 

Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino walked side by side down the hall, chatting and laughing on their way to the locker room to get their lunches (and, in Marinette's case, her chocolates). Adrien tried keeping his blush as minimal as he could possibly force it; after all, this was his favorite gift... and hopefully would be Marinette's, too.

  
Alya must have been totally fine to see Adrien blush, because she kept steering the conversation towards Marinette's secret admierer.

  
"Marinette, I can't believe you haven't giggled once today!" Alya exclaimed. Marinette shot her a side eyed glance. Nino rolled his eyes and began talking to Adrien, leading them slightly ahead of the group to not disrupt the girl's conversation.

  
"What? Maybe I'm just not much of a giggler?" Marinette quipped, knowing full well that remark was NOT true.

  
"Marinette, I'm your best friend.  _You. Are. A. Giggler_. What's different about this one?"

  
"Well..." Marinette shot Adrien and Nino a look in front of them. Neither seemed to be listening, instead enveloped in a conversation about videogame graphics. "It's just... different."

  
Alya didn't look amused. "Spill."

  
Marinette nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ears before taking a quick breath. "I kind of know who my admierer is-"

  
"YOU DO?!"

  
"Yes, but not really! See, I know him from a... gaming... website, and we didn't know each other's names until he found out mine a little bit ago. I've kind of, sort of, really fallen in love with him, and- don't freak out!" Marinette grabbed her best friend's hands in an attempt to calm her down. Alya's eyes blazed but she remained silent. "That's why I don't really like Adrien as a crush anymore!"

  
"Marinette, one, why didn't you tell me any of this! Two, a _gaming webite? Really?_  Your crush could be a forty year old man! Who lives in his mom's basement! Named Chuck!"

  
Marinette froze, her face contorting as if she had just realized the possibility- she shook her head. "Alya, this is different! We've met offline, but at a... convention so I only saw his mask!" The lie came quicker and quicker, hopefully convincing enough to sell the story. "I've seen him in real life. I've talked to him online. We just... never exchanged personal info. We liked it better that way. It was more fun, just being able to be myself around him without any social pressures and stuff, I guess. And trust me. He is _not_ a forty year old man."

  
Alya hummed and eyed her best friend suspisiously. Now she knew how Adrien had fallen in love with Marinette... through some stupid video game! What sort of sick love square were her friends involved in?

  
Alya finally sighed, as if she was a confused and oblivious best friend. Hah. Funny.

  
"Alright, Marinette. I trust you. Just don't do anything stupid, okay?"

  
Marinette's relieved smile brought a grin to Alya's face. "Thanks, Alya."

  
"Anything for my best friend." Alya linked her arm through Marinette's. "So, how does he know what school you go to?"

  
Marinette laughed. "That, my friend, is a story for another day."

  
"Fine. But I expect to hear about it in full detail!"

  
"Uh huh."

  
"Anyways," Alya said, "Why haven't you giggled? You said this was different?"

  
"Well..." Marinette shuffled on her feet slightly, causing her to almost trip into Nino. Apologizing quickly, she turned back to her friend. "It's kind of because I'm super stressed with school, I'm seriously sleep deprived, and my emotions are out of wack. I'm not gonnaa lie, I'm nervous about finding out who he is for real, I'm just irrationally nervous and annoyed that I haven't found him yet, I guess? And, also,I kind of, may have, just a little bit.... fallen in love with him."

  
"No way!" Alya squealed, causing Adrien and Nino to glance back over their shoulders. After shooing them back to their own conversation, Alya continued. "Aw, Mari, I'm so happy for you! Now you can get married and have kids and live happily ever after-"

  
"Alya, cut it out! You sound like Rose!" The dark haired girl laughed, drawing another quick head turn from Adrien.

  
"So that's it?"

  
"Yep, pretty much," Marinette, of course, wouldn't tell her anything any more realistic than that. After all, lies to protect people were good lies, right?

  
The conversation stopped when they opened the door to the locker room. A small group of students gathered around Marinette's locker, whispering excitedly. Kim held a small notebook, checking small boxes and recording names. Rose looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

  
"Um..." Marinette paused. "What are you guys doing?"

  
Kim didn't even look up from his notebook before saying, "Waiting for you."

  
"Why?"

  
"Because I want chocolate!" Kim ushered people out of the way, forming a small path to the girl's locker for her. "Oh, and these people want to know what else Marinette got, and if her secret admierer gave her a hint to who he was yet."

  
Marinette let out a huff, then fought her way over to her locker with Alya by her side, elbowing curious students out of her way. Meanwhile, Nino walked over to Kim, Adrien trailing behind him in an attempt to look uninterested while Marinette fidgeted with the lock.

  
"Kim, is that a betting log?" Nino peered over his classmate's shoulder. Kim snapped the book shut and gave Nino a wink.

  
"This is the most fun I've had in a month! No way am I not getting in on this!" Kim turned to Adrien. "By the way, nice job with those chocolates. Want to be _my_  secret admierer, next?"

  
Adrien flushed, ice chilling his veins. He subconsiously cringed, his eyes darting around to make sure nobody heard. "What are you talking about?!"

  
The athlete laughed, then shook his head. "Almost half of the people here knows it's you, my friend! We just want to see how long it takes _Marinette_  to find out for herself!"

  
Just then, Rose squealed. The three boys turned to see Marinette with a small velvet jelwery box, her flustered face dark red. "OH MY GOSH!" Rose cried, throwing her arms around Marinette. "YOUR SECRET ADMIERER GOT YOU A RING! AW!"

  
"Rose, it's not a ring!" Alya snatched the box away from her dazed best friend and pried the box open. She froze, her eyes fixed on whatever lay inside the box. A soft smile spread across her face, and she handed the box apologetically back to Marinette. "It's a charm bracelet!"

  
There it was. Adrien knew that was supposed to be one of the last ones. Any second and Marinette would make the connection, then come running into his arms. Any second now...

  
Unaware of Adrien making sure his shirt wasn't wrinkled and that his hair looked just right, Marinette inspected the bracelet. Her expression hadn't changed from the slightly confused 'o' of surprise her mouth formed.

  
The bracelet was long enough to be used a necklace, but it could be wrapped around her wrist to make a bracelet. There were different tiny charms: an Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, a croissant, a ladybug (the bug), a black kitten, a video game controller, a ruby (which looked pretty realistic), a fire extinguisher, a spool of thread, a camera, and a few other small charms. The biggest however, was a silver polished heart with a small knob on the side. On the outside were four words engraven in neat print: **'I don't fear change'**. Her heart quickening, Marinette pressed on the knob, completely oblivious to everyone watching her intently, including Adrien, who looked like he was about to pass out.

  
The heart sprung open down an almost invisible seam in the middle. Both halves swung up to reveal a small picture of Marinette, smiling and waving. More words were written on the insides of the heart. The left one read, ' **Because I have you** ,' and the right one said,' **By my side.'**

  
Alya stepped closer to Marinette. "Marinette? What does it say!"

  
The girl said nothing. She just handed it over. Alya read it out loud.

  
"'I don't fear change, because I have you by my side'... Marinette this is adorable, marry this boy yesterday!" Alya cried, forcefully wrapping the bracelet around Marinette's wrist. Immedeatly the students in the locker room began chattering, exchanging money, and discussing Marinette's love life like it was a reality TV show.

  
Adrien and Nino approached, each with casual expressions on their faces.

  
"Wow, Marinette! Nice bracelet!" Nino fingered one of the beads. "What do they stand for?"

  
Marinette said nothing.

  
She just let a warm grin melt over her features.

  
Then, she began to giggle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it's 1:46 and i have to wake up in about five hours... fun!  
> I would have slept today but, seeing as it's my birthday as of now, I decided to give you all a birthday gift from me in appreciation. Hope you guys don't hate this chapter! I thrive off of comments! Tell me what you like, what you don't, heck, even tell me about yourself if you want. I'm bored and stuck at home for another week. Come chat in the comment section XD  
> Thank you all so much for reading! I was expecting to be done by now but then I had one of my famous "Ideas at 3 o'clock in the morning" Eurekas, so I'm probs gonna end this around 40+ thousand words. eep!  
> Thank you for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	8. Chapter 8

"Can I have the chocolate caramel cream?" Kim perched on the edge of Marinette's chair, squishing her against Alya. Usually Alya, Adrien, Nino, and Marinette chose to sit with a variety of classmates, but that day they found themselves at a small four seating table in the corner.

  
Adrien watched Marinette hand the box over to Kim, trying not to feel a faint twinge of annoyance. He didn't want to sound vain, but those candies were for  _Marinette_  after all, not some teenage boy who kept sending him suggestive winks and eyebrows whenever Marinette's back was turned.

  
"Thanks Marinette!" Kim crowed, wrapping an arm obnoxiously around the girl in a one armed hug. Marinette scoffed, an exasperated look settling as she yawned.

  
"You're welcome, Kim. Remember this the next time I need a favor." She shrugged off his arm playfully. Shoving the chocolate in his mouth, Kim hopped off the seat. He strutted to his table where Alix, Max, and Nathaniel were chatting, throwing a wink over his shoulder as he went.

  
Shaking their heads, Alya and Marinette turned back to their conversation from before Kim interupted. Nino nudged Adrien's shoe with his own under the lunch table.

  
"Kim's gonna make this pretty painful for you, won't he, dude?" Nino mumbled, eyes focused on his food.  
Adrien sighed and shook his head. "I'm already dead inside. This isn't helping anything."

  
"You're old man really isn't cutting you much slack with those late night photoshoots, is he?"

  
"Nope. The next season is comming up pretty soon, and if Father doesn't have a massive line already created he could be surpassed as the 'greatest designer in Paris'. And he couldn't have _that_ , now could he." Adrien tried to shove his guilt deep down. Of course his father always worked him hard, but he usually never made him do late night photoshoots. Adrien felt bad framing his dad as the reason he was drop-dead exhausted, but his identity staying secret was worth a little fib every now and again.

  
And again.

And agian.

"Man, that's too harsh." Nino grimaced, chewing on a mouthful of pizza thoughtfully. A mischevious smile spread across his face. "How about I come with you one of these nights and talk to you're dad about it?"

Adrien, who had just taken a massive swig of mineral water his dietician made him drink daily, hacked violently. His waterbottle fell over and water sprayed everywhere, out of his mouth and nose, showering the girls and the table with liquid. With indignant cries Alya and Marinette stood up in unison and ran to the bathroom, screaming,

"ADRIEN, EW!" and "GROSS!" as they went.

"Bro!' Nino stumbled backwards out of his seat, his hat flying off of his head as he scrambled out of Adrien's splash zone. 

"Sorry!" Adrien coughed, cringing at the burning sensation in his nose. He fingered his nose gently, trying to pat the tingles away. "Sorry! My fault... gross..."

"Here, give me a second," Nino called before he disappeared from view, only to return momentarily with a new waterbottle and a handful of napkins. With his face screwed up in repulsion, he handed half to Adrien, then proceeded to hesitantly wipe down the table."What's so bad about me asking to come keep you company and talk to your dad?"

Of course Adrien couldn't tell him the real reason (there wasn't a photoshoot in the first place), so he settled for the next best thing: "I appreciate the gesture, but my dad is pretty hardcore. I couldn't garuentee you'd come out of the shoot alive." He set his elbow on the table and made to rest his head on his open palm, when his elbow slipped from the water puddles on the surface. Adrien's arm slammed on the table while his head jerked up to avoid the same fate. Adrien's eyes opened wide, a suprised grimace covering his face.

  
_Thanks a lot, stupid black cat luck_. Adrien thought to himself. Plagg snickered from his place inside Adrien's pocket. Adrien subtly hit the pocket, making a mental note to threaten Plagg with a serious deduction to the cheese budget until Adrien got some better luck.

  
Nino clucked his tongue, trying to keep himself from laughing. "Bro, you are just a _mess_  today, aren't you?"  
Adrien groaned. Using his dirty napkin, he cleared a small spot on the table. When clean to his satisfaction, the model threw his head up dramatically, let out the largest groan he possibly could, and flopped his head onto the cleaned part of the table. Nino patted his best friend's head while he collected the wet napkins.

  
"Adrien, no more moving for you. For the rest of the day, just sit and I'll take care of everything for you. Don't you worry, child. Uncle Nino's got this." Ruffling Adrien's hair, Nino plucked the napkin from his friend's hand and walked to the garbage can.

  
Alya and Marinette emerged from the bathroom a few seconds after Nino settled back in his seat. The two made their way over to the table with confused grimaces on their faces.

  
"What was that, Human Fountain?" Alya spat the second she sat down, totally ignoring Adrien's head lowered in defeat and Nino drawing his hand over his neck to signal her to shut up.

  
"Nice, Alya." Marinette deadpanned. "Very classy, very empathetic."

  
Adrien lifted his head a few inches, his eyes focused on the table. "Sorry guys, I don't know what happened. I guess I just-"

  
"Have been exhausted and overworked? Alya, Marinette- no, I'm gonna tell them, don't kick me under the table, dude! Alya, Marinette, Adrien is being seriously overworked. The project for school, his billion other social obligations, classes, and photoshoots have replaced our sunshine child with this," Nino gestured to Adrien's head, which had flopped back onto the table in defeat. "Tired, mopey, clutzy, crazy, smelly, repulsive-"

"Hey!' Adrien's muffled warning from the table pulled a laugh out of the group. Adrien tried not to feel too proud of himself for hearing Marinette chuckle. He covered his head with his arms to cover the grin spreading on his face. Just by being around hi friends and hearing Marinette happy already started the energy flowing through his veins, waking him up inside.

"Sorry bro! My pont is, we gotta cheer this kid back into the cinnamon roll we know and love!" Nino finished with a ruffle of Adrien's hair. Smirking slightly, Adrien lifted his head to smile at his friends greatfully. Nino threw him a pack of macaroons, and the fun began.

Ten minutes of chatting, handing out chocolates to the friends who walked by their table, eating food Adrien --definitely-- wasn't aloud to eat, and Marinette smiling fondly down at her charm bracelet exactly eighty-four times (not that Adrien was counting) later, the topic took a turn to who was dating or liked who in their class.

"No matter what you say, Alya, I can totally see Kim and Alix together." Adrien said haughtily, his arms crossed across his chest.

"No way!" Alya scoffed. "Those two are way too competitive! Besides, Kim likes the swimmer girl! Do you guys remember when he liked Chloe?" Aya stuck a finger in her mouth, cringing and clenching her eyes in disguist. Nino and Marinette burst into laugher. Even Adrien cracked a smile.

"Okay, let's settle on the real couples then. You and Nino, obviously."

"That's right!" Alya shouted while Nino fist bumped her.

Adrien and Marinette made eye contact, Adrien deadpanning and Marinette smirking. "Oh. Romance." Adrien said in a flat voice. "Adorable. Always wanted to be a part of one. Anyways, Ivan and Mylene are the only other official couple I can think of-"

"Remember the movie we made for that competition? I can't believe we got Ladybug and Cat Noir to star in it during a  _real_ akuma battle! Besides, Ivan and Mylene's kiss in the end scene was _perfectly_ timed!" Nino interupted.

  
Alya nudged Marinette playfully. "Although the _kiss_  didn't exactly play out as we hoped!"

  
Mainette groaned, covering her face with her hands. She subtly dropped a cookie down to Tikki as she said, "Alya, we don't talk about that anymore!"

  
"Hold on, time out." Nino raised his hands in an "x", his eyes gleaming. "How did you want the kiss to play out?" A moment of silence passed. Nino's grin widened devilishly. "Marinette? Do you have something to confess?"

  
"No...."

  
"Come on, girl! Spill!" Alya cackled, not taking threat at all when Marinette shot her a death glare.

  
"There's nothing to spill!" Marinette protested, lifting her head and waving her arms emphatically, as if to emphasize her point.

  
"Sure there is!" Nino turned towards Alya, who was rubbing her hands together mischeviously. "Babe?"

The brunette reporter cracked her knuckles. "Alright, kiddies, it's story time!"

"Alya!" Marinette lifted her head, avoiding Adrien's gaze at all costs as her face went from pink to red in a matter of seconds. "This happened so long ago! I'm over it now!"

"Then you won't have any problem letting Alya tell the story!" Adrien concluding, throwing her a perfectly timed wink. Sadly, she missed it, as she covered her head in her arms once again.

"Fine. It happened forever ago and everything has changed, so who cares about my pride or dignity anymore? Go ahead, Alya. But be warned," Marinette paused dramatically. "This will change your image of me forever."  
Adrien smiled to himself. That wasn't exactly a bad thing the first time, what with the identity reveal; how life changing could it be now?

 

 

 

"Hold up, wait wait wait, _pause_  for a second... Marinette, you have a crush on me?!" Adrien flailed his arms and sqwuaked, interrupting Alya's dramatic retelling of the day the class tried to create a movie for a competition, not bothering to skip out on _any_  embarressing detail whatsoever.

  
Marinette sighed. " _Used_  to, Adrien. Don't worry, that ended quite a while ago."

  
"Oh." Plastering on a model expression to hide his absolute devastation, Adrien cocked his head. He stared at the table guiltily. "I'm so sorry.... How did I not notice?" He questioned aloud, more to himself than the others.

  
"Dude, no offense," Nino popped one of Marinette's chocolates into his mouth, "But you are one of the most oblivious people I have ever met."

  
Marinette nodded sympathetically (ironically, Adrien thought with an eye roll) while Alya snorted. "Dang, Nino.  _Understatement_  of the century! This sunshine child is completely blind! In fact, I bet he could watch _Ladybug_ detranform and still not know her true identity!" She collapsed into laughter at her own joke. Nino fondly rolled his eyes at her before digging into the rest of his lunch.

  
Adrien shrugged and grinned, watching Marinette out of the corner of his eye. She tensed sligtly at the joke. Her beautiful blue eues narrowed slightly, settling first on his eyes, then traveling up towards the top of his head, where his black cat ears would sit-

  
"Anyways!" Adrien coughed, drawing attention back to the conversation. Alya and Marinette reflaxively leaned backwards, just in case Adrien decided to cough up an entire waterbottle again. "So, you said you _used_  to like me. Who do you like now?"

  
Marinette deadpanned. 'Who says I like anybody?"

  
Nino scoffed, shoveling some of Marinette's untouched food onto his own plate, earning himself a look from Alya. "Please!" the boy said, his mouth full of food. "You're the biggest romantic we know, other than Rose. Of course you like another guy!"

  
"Besides!" Adrien grinned. "Now you have a secret admierer, so there has to be a relationship there somewhere!"  
Marinette looked between Nino, Alya, and Adrien (who was trying not to stare at her too intently), and rubbed her temples slightly.

"Fine. You guys are my best friends. Why not. My dignity is already dead forever, anyways.

  
Marinette recounted the story she had told Alya while leaving out a few details (such as the fact that she was  _desperately_  in love with the guy). Adrien listened with butterflies fluttering in his stomach, mixed with a sense of pride. Thinking back to her earlier days as an undercover superhero, Marinette's excuses for being late and tardy were often _pretty_  unbelievable. But now her cover-up was seamless and smooth; Adrien couldn't have done better himself. As the dark haired girl's story continued, Adrien's devastation changed to joy. The model was oblivious, all right, but even  _he_ could tell that this so-called gamer was really just code for "Cat Noir".

  
Adrien suddenly heard a small buzz in his backpack; his phone had just gotten a notifiction. Ducking below the table, he rummaged around in the pockets until his phone wound up in his hands. Grinning triumphantly, Adrien was about to resurface when he saw a small flash of pink from inside of Marinette's bag. He stared at it for a few seconds. A pair of big, beautiful blue eyes shown through the dark of the bag. The eyes winked at him before vanishing from sight. It took Adrien a second to realize the eyes belonged to the Ladybug kwami, Tikki. A small smile crossed his face. Making a split second decision, Adrien slid an envelope across the floor to Marinette's bag. The envelope stayed, motionless, on the floor. Suddenly, a flash of pink soared out of the bag, scooped up the envelope, and dissapeared back into the bag. Tikki stuck her head out seconds later, winked, and zoomed with the envelope back to the lockerroom, ducking between tables and chairs as she went.

  
_Well. That's one problem solved._  Adrien though smugly.

  
"Adrien!" A voice from above the table called, suprsising the blonde. He jerked his head up, and hit the bottom of the lunchtable. Groaning, he lifted his head, still rubbing the top.

  
"Whatcha doing down there?" Nino asked innocently, his eyes shining mischeviously.

  
Adrien held up his phone, and said in a voice as flat as he could muster, "Drugs."

  
Nino scoffed. "Yeah, like you even know how. Who texted you?"

  
Adrien checked the phone, well aware of his friends watching him. "Natalie." Adrien said, trying not to let too much annoyance drip into his tone. It wasn't _her_  fault he had to do numerous daytime photoshoots; she was just the messanger his father sent to give bad news.

  
Marinette rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. Another photoshoot?"

  
Adrien sighed and nodded his head. Nino groaned.

  
"Bro, if you're old man adds anything more to your work load, you are going to collapse!"

  
"Nino, it's fine! I can handle it!" Adrien protested, already feeling exhaustion seep back into his aching muscles.

"No, he's right, Adrien! You look like you might die right here, right now." Alya folded her arms, glaring disaprovingly at Adrien's phone. "Tell him, girl. Bring out the big guns. You're good at the lecture stuff, make him understand."

Marinette sighed. She waited a second before Adrien made eye contact with her. Once his gaze was securely fixed on hers, the designer leaned slightly closer. "Adrien, I know exhaustion. I've had a long week, I'm exhausted _now_. Trust me. I've had my fair share of late nights, early mornings, and just no sleep in general. But if you don't get rest, you're going to get sick. _Extremely_  sick. Pushing yourself is good, but when it gets to the point of throwing off your mental abilities, and eating and sleep schedule? Trust me. It can hurt you, and the people who rely on you." Marinette was staring at Adrien with such intensity, he didn't dare pull his eyes away. He knew _exactly_  what she was talking about. "The last time I had too much on my plate, I ended up unable to function properly for an entire week. One day, I should have been fully present for a.... baking event I took part in. The people who relied on me were very let down when I couldn't pull my weight and work my hardest. I.... I never want to have to go through that again. Besides, remember in biology when we learned...."

  
With a pang Adrien realized she wasn't talking about a baking obligation... she was reffering to an akuma attack, just a few weeks ago. Fading out of the conversation, Adrien remembered the fear he felt that day; the akuma, while the only one that week, took almost seven hours to fight. Cat Noir had been more focused on making sure Ladybug or any other citizens weren't injured than on finding the akumatised item, and the villian was agile and sneaky. At one point, the villian had dived into a road, scattering citizens and cars as he began throwing knives, left and right. One of the knives the akuma threw cut straight through the air, hurtling in Ladybug's direction as she turned to help a few citizens get to safety. Her exhaustion had clouded her senses, and she had almost paid for it dearly. Adrien remembered throwing himself at his partner, shoving her out of the way, wrapping his arms around her to cradle her neck, back, and head. He remembered seeing the knife hurdle towards himself instead, striking him in the side, lodging itself there as he fell, Ladybug still held tightly in his arms.

  
The pain didn't register at first, so he wasn't immediately sure where the knife had wound up; all he could think was, _No! Not her! Take me intead_!  He remembered the bittersweet relief flooding through his veins as he felt a searing pain in his side. Adrien remembered the strangled scream Ladybug let out after seeing the blade imbedded in his skin, the fabric of his suit turning red. Through a red and black haze he could still see her, energized by adrenaline, rushing the akuma, destroying the akumatized knife belt sheath with more hatred he had ever seen coming from her. She had thrown her lucky charm (a rope to bind the akuma's arms) high into the sky, her pleading screech of "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" filling the road, reverberating off of cars, causing people to shake in terror. Adrien remembered the little ladybugs swarm around him, blinding him in a tornado of light and warmth. Suddenly the knife was out of his side, the pain had stopped, and Ladybug was hurtling toward him, her face full of terror, unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

  
He remembered kneeling, hugging her in the street, both grasping the other until their hearts slowed enough to think. Cat Noir had pulled away eventually and whispered into her ear, "We need to go." Ladybug only responded with a soft whimper, her glistening eyes blown wide. Adrien remembered the pain in his chest as he reminded Ladybug that they couldn't stay together long; the kwamis had been to be exhausted from keeping a transformation for so long, and their parents would be worried. He remembered Ladybug insisting that she detransform with her back to one of the beams, high on the Eiffel Tower. Adrien did the same, both heroes hiding their identities while their kwamii refueled. The unmasked Ladybug, Marinette, had reached her hand back, grasping for Adrien's as Plagg quietly berated his chosen for almost getting himself killed. They sat in silence for a few minutes, holding each other's hand like a lifeline.

  
When the kwamii had refueled and retransformed their respective holder, Cat Noir scooted over to sit next to Ladybug. The sun was setting behind them, with nothing to see but indigo sky in front. Cat Noir had turned to say someting when he realized Ladybug was gazing straight out into the sky, silent tears rolling down her face.   
All he could do was hold the girl as she cried into his shoulder, holding on to him as if she was scared to let him go, scared that he might not still be there if she let go, even for a second...

  
"Did you hear what I said?" Marinette's voice snapped Adrien back to the present with Nino, Alya, and Marinette. With great pain, he shoved the memories back down to the corner of his mind, where he could deal with them later. Plastering a smile on his face and nodding fervently, Adrien forced some humor to clear his mind.

  
"I sure did, ma'am!" Adrien crowed in a western accent, tipping an imaginary sherrif's hat in her direction, trying his hardest not to remember her sobbing into his shoulder just weeks ago.

  
Marinette deapanned. "You totally blanked out, didn't you."

  
Adrien faltered slightly, his own expressions betraying himself. He shook his head and waved his arms dramatically.  
"Enough about me! Let's talk about Marinette's boyfriend! What's he like?" Adrien cried quickly, trying to veer the conversation somewhere he could fake a cheery attitude and drive the conversation.

  
Narrowing her eyes but thinking it best not to persue the subject, Marinette shrugged. "I don't have a boyfriend, first of all, and I don't know what you mean."

  
Adrien, completely aware that he was fishing for complements about himself, tried again. 'How would you decribe him? Funny? Handsome? Charming...?"

  
"Oh he's charming, all right." Marinette laughed to herself, staring at the box of chocolates sitting in the middle of the table. "He can't go a day without either being a total gentleman or crazy flirt. He's the most self-sacrificing person I know, which I _hate_ , and would do literally _anything_  for the people he lov- for the people he knows." Marinette flushed slightly, a fond light brightening her eyes like a sunrise while her mouth tried to stay neutral. "He thinks he's hilarious, his stupid puns are the _complete_  opposite of funny, or well timed, and he can be a crazy loser sometimes, but...." Marinette sighed without thinking, lost in her own world. "He's _my_  kind, loving, funny, adorable, crazy loser."

  
A few seconds passed. Nino and Alya's shocked gapes were quickly morphing into matching open mouth grins. All Adrien could do was try to quench his blush and not kiss her there and then.

  
"Daaaang, Marinette!" Nino said finally, snapping the dark haired girl out of her dazed fantasy. "You planning a wedding any time soon?"

  
"Nino!" Marinette blushed and rolled her eyes, wishing she could melt right there on the spot.

"What's his username?" Adrien suddenly asked, blinking innocently as he leaned his head leaning forward slightly, his confidence boosted by the not-so-subtle love confession.

"User- what?" Marinette asked, scrunching her nose in confusion.

'You know!" Adrien grinned, eyes slightly widened in an almost reminder, "His username from his game account? Where you 'met'?"

The girl raised a brow skeptically. "Um... Why?"

"Just curious!" Adrien smiled as innocently as he could. Would she choke and say Cat Noir?

Marinette thought for a second, before smirking. " _Camembert_is_For-meow-ver_314_."

  
Nino and Alya cracked up immediatley, darting looks at Adrien as they gasped for air. Even Plagg cackled from Adrien's pocket, and no doubt Tikki was too. Adrien, however, was a lot less amused. _Ladybug knows I hate camembert! That pun was terrible, I would never say something like tha_ t! Adrien thought to himself saltily, his jaw dropped in indignation. Just as he was about to retort with a _No, I bet it's something like "CoolKat" or "Cat.Be.Controlled" or something powerful and fiesty like that_ , the school bell rang. The four friends hastily scooped up the remains of their lunches and threw them in a trashcan, Adrien still grumbling slightly.

  
The crowd of people outside of Marinette's locker had reached an all time high. Students were even paying Alix and Kim with food and extra lunch money to have first-row viewing of Marinette's locker.

  
Marinette deadpanned the second she arrived. "Really, Kim? Alix?" She asked in a flat voice, Alya smirking behind her. "You guys need to give these kids their money back."

  
The two athletes smirked at each other. "How about you get half of the profits?" Alix smiled convincingly, Kim nodding behind her vigorously. Marinette only shook her head in annoyance.

  
"How about you give these kids their money back? I need to get to my locker, class is starting soon!" Marinette began shoving past students, Alya forging the path from behind. Nino and Adrien once again stayed behind.

  
Alya stood with her back to Marinette's as her friend undid the combination to her locker. Alya made sure nobody could see the combinations, glaring at anyone who dared to get too close. When Marinette's locker popped open, the girl reached inside to withdraw a single envelope.

  
"WHAT IS IT?!" Rose cried from the very front of the mob of students, hopping from foot to foot in romantic anticipation.

  
With the most sarcastic smile she could muster, Marinette held the envelope up for everyone to see. Adrien watched as she rolled her eyes and grimaced in annoyance, mumbling something about how her love life had become a reality TV show. She moved the card back down to eye level, and opened it. Her sarcastic grimace changed to confusion as she slipped four rectangles of paper out of the envelope. She flipped them over to see what was on them-

  
A loud scream filled the locker room. Marinette began squealing, jumping up and down in excitement.

  
"What is it?" Myele called from her own locker.

  
"IS IT A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL?!'' Rose screamed, running up to bounce with Marinette in excitement.

  
"NO, IT'S EVEN BETTER!" Marinette cried, grabbing Rose's hands and bouncing in a circle with her. "IT'S TICKETS TO GABRIEL! I'M GOING TO SEE A GABRIEL SHOW ON THE RUNWAY!"

  
Awed chatter filled the lockerroom.

  
"Did she say Gabriel?"

"No way! Those tickets cost a fortune! How did she get four?!"

"Was that the bell?"

"I wish I had a rich secret admierer!"

"I've always wanted to go to a Gabriel fashion show!"

"I wonder if she knows yet..."

"Think she'll give me a ticket?"

"Do you think she would sell them for a cheaper price?"

"Gabriel is my favorite designer, Marinette is so lucky!"

The only students not chatting animatedly were Chloe and Sabrina. Chloe had her back turned on Marinette's locker, determinedly scrolling on her phone while Sabrina leaned against her locker working on an assignment, no doubt Chloe's portion of the Parisian Culture project,

A sudden loud bang from the hallway caused the students in the lockerroom to whip around. Everyone froze as the bang was followed by several pounding footsteps, coming closer and closer to the lockerroom. Students with watches checked the time; class had started five minutes ago. 

"Students!" Ms. Bustier entered the locker room hurredly, her face pale, with M. Mendeliev and Principal Damoclese at her heels. "Why are you not all in class? Is something wrong? Has there been an akuma attack?"

"You!" Ms. Mendeliev pointed at a random student. "Tell me what's going on?"

The boy nodded his head, his eyes darting around nervously before begining: "Marinette has a secret admierer who keeps leaving her gifts and we were all excited to see what it would be this time that we sort.... of... lost track of time..." He trailed off when the spiky-haired science teacher's nostrils flaired.

"My homeroom students! To class! Now!" She commanded, halting by the door to make sure nobody was left behind or escaped. Half of the kids deserted the room, leaving only Marinette's class alone with Ms. Bustier and Pricipal Damoclese.

"Students, I understand the excitement for our friend's social lives," Ms. Bustier began, softer now that she knew nobody was in danger, "But let's leave that for lunch and after school, okay?"  
Principal Damoclese nodded sternly, then stood aside to let the students exit the room. Guiltily, the class triapsed out of the locker room in the direction of Ms. Mendeliev's class, their next class.

Ms. Mendeliev had already sent her homeroom kids off by the time the students entered the class room.

"You're here! Finally! Sit down, we have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it!" The spiky-haired teacher snapped, tapping her fingers against her crossed arms. Adrien followed suit of the rest of his class and hastily sat down in his seat.

Class began immediatley. Goggles, gloves, and aprons were handed out, as well as bags full of powders, liquids, measuring utensils, and graduated cylinders

"Do you remember what we're doing today?" Nino leaned toward Adrien while helping him unload their lab kit.

"We're mixing different chemicals using this study guide," Adrien held up a piecce of paper with a table on it.   
Nino squinted suspiciously at the chemicals in front of him. His eyes were magnified due to the goggles layered on top of his glasses. Adrien couldn't help but chuckle as Nino said, "I wonder if any of these will explode?"

Adrien lifted a bag of powder and a graduated cylinder. He smirked mischeviously, then pulled his goggles as far as he could. With a wink, he snapped his goggles onto his eyes. "Let's find out!"

"....That hurt, didn't it." Nino said, watching Adrien's eyes begin to water.

"Oh yeah," Adrien blinked rapidly, rubbing his face.

Nino scoffed. "Stupid drama queen."

With that, the class began their work. The air filled with smells and sounds as students expiremented. Adrien and Nino hurridly scribbled down observations and measurements on their worksheet as the solution they had just created began fizzing, turning from a hazy white color to a dark yellow.

At Marinette and Alya's table, Marinette was trying her hardest to focus... but she had four tickets to Gabriel!!! How could she possibly focus on some science project when she was going to Gabriel's next fashion show! She would get to support Adrien on the runway, and see all of the beautiful outfits that _the_  Gabriel Agreste had designed! Even better, rumor had it that the highlight of the collection was greatly inspired by Ladybug and Cat Noir! That would be like Marinette herself would be on the runway! That was the highest honor she could think of-  
"Marinette!" Alya cried. Marinette jumped back, looking startled at the spilled powder on the table.  
"Sorry!" Marinette squeaked, rushing to brush it back into the bag, careful not to touch any with her bare skin. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm so out of it, let me clean this back up..."

  
When all of the powder was swept back into the bag, Alya sighed and leaned against the table. "Girl, what's up?'  
Marinette made an apologetic face, fidgeting with her charm bracelet. "I'm sorry, Alya. I'm exhausted, I'm distracted by the whole secret admierer ordeal, and I'm really distracted by the Gabriel tickets. By the way, you are coming with me to that show. No way out of it."

  
Alya laughed. "I'm you're best friend! Of course I'm coming! But for the time being, we need to get these expiriments done!"

  
"Alright! Pass me that.... I can't read that. Pass the red powder!"  
  
Thirty minutes later, Marinette and Alya were almost done with their worksheets. They were comparing notes with Nino and Adrien (who was apparently a science genius) when Adrien heard a small whining noise. He cocked his head to listen. The noise grew slowly louder.

  
"Do you guys hear that?" Adrien asked, interrupting the conversation. His friends paused, cocking their heads to listen.

  
"I don't hear anything." Alya said.

"Me neither," Nino agreed.

"I do." Marinette's voice was low. Adrien knew what she was thinking just by looking at her face; was this noise normal, or a threat?"

Seconds later, the noise faded away. Adrien and Marinette made eye contact.

"I guess it was a light or something." Marinette shrugged.

Adrien nodded. "Or it was came from someone's expirement."

The two turned back to their friends and continued comparing notes.

"Nino, you wrote that down in the wrong category." Marinette said, pointing with her pencil at a column on his paper. "And spelled that name wrong."

The DJ threw his hands up in the air. "Well, I'm sorry! I can't even pronounce the name, let alone spell it! What is it? Fluca- flcythrine... see! I can't do it!"

Adrien laughed a shook his head. "Nino, it's flucythrinate-"

BOOM!

Adrien didn't have time to think before his body was shielding Marinette's and they were both flying backward. Adrien's head hit the wall, and everything went dark.

 

 

  
Marinette regained consiousness seconds later. Blinking furiously, she shook her head to clear it. Her ears rung. She surveyed her surroundings.

Adrien, who had thrown himself at Marinette a split second before they were hit by the force of the explosion, lay unconsious on the floor beneath her. His arms were still wrapped around her body. Deeming him alive after checking his pulse, she slid out of his grip to assess the situation.  
The classroom was absolutely devastated. Smoke clouded the air. Tables and chairs were overturned and splintered. Lab equipment lay scattered on the floor, chemical fumes adding to the smoke in the air. Unconsious students mingled with the debris. Books, paper, pencils, backpacks, and cellphones lay scattered on the floor.

"Tikki?" Marinette called tenatively. 

No response.

"Tikki?!" Marinette cried a louder.

No response.

"Come on, Tikki, we need to transform while everyone is asleep!" The girl raised her hands to her earrings and rubbed them nervously- then she screamed.

An earring was missing.

"NO NO NO NO! TIKKI! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Marinette screeched, frantically spinning. She dived on a pile of debris, coughing because of the smoke, searching frantically for her missing earring.

"Marinette?"

The sudden voice froze her in her tracks. She whipped around to see Adrien standing where they had fallen.

"Adrien! You're okay!" Marinette cried, ducking low to avoid the smoke and running to him. She grabbed his shoulders and checked him over. "Are you okay?! What happened?"

Adrien raised his hand slowly to rest it on her cheek. The other hand cupped her ear softly. "Your earring... it's gone."

Marinette sighed. "That's not important right now. What is is that we get everone to safety."

"No, no, no, it is important! Those are your earrings!" Adrien threw himself on the floor, patting his hands in search of the earring.

"Adrien, I know I got super defensive about them yesterday, but if it comes to other people's safety-"

Adrien cut her off, "No, no, no, it does! Aha!" Adrien scooped up a small object on the floor and placed it in Marinette's hand. 

"Adrien! My earring! Thank you!" Marinette fixed it back in her ear, then said, "Adrien, we need to get everyone to safety. Come on, let's check to make sure everyone's breathing and out of the smoke."

"No, we need to leave. There's no time, we need to get out of here." Adrien insisted.  
Marinette was shocked at the indifference Adrien treated his classmates with. "Adrien! These people are your friends! We need to make sure they are okay!"

"No! We need to go!"

  
"No, we need to stay!"

"Go!"

"Stay!"

"Go!" Adrien's voice brimmed with pleading.

Marinette threw her arms up in frustration. "Fine! You go! I'm staying here to make sure my friends are safe!"

Adrien stood still, as if contemplating. Finally, he nodded his head. "Okay. Stay here. But come quickly." With that, Adrien ran to the hole in the wall, courtesy of the bomb explosion.

"Adrien, what are you doing?!" Marinette shrieked. Had he lost his mind?!

Adrien turned his head. His eyes searched hers, pleading for forgiveness. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way. This wasn't supposed to happen like this." 

Adrien lept out of the window. Marinette screamed behind him.

"PLAGG! CLAWS OUT!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN! DUN! DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!  
> WELCOME TO TYPO CITY, POPULATION, ME. Sorry i have NO time to edit this!!  
> Thanks for reading! Make sure to comment! Sorry an update has taken forever, I've been in California and on the road and stuff... and this chapter was hard to write.  
> I made an instagram account! Follow me at miracu_lous_lady_noir !  
> i hope you liked this chapter, comment what you liked and didnt, feedback is the best gift you could give me! Stay awesome! School is coming next week for me (ew) so i wont have as much time to write, but I'll try to finish soon. Thanks guys!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see! Sorry it took so long to get this out... I'm taking two college classes, I'm in a musical (Mamma Mia!), and I have about a billion things going on!  
> ALSO!! An amazingly talented artist drew some art for this story!! I've put them in the chapters they belong in, so go check out chapters 1, 3, and 5! The artist's user is FifiDrawz! She is AMAZING!! So big thanks to her for taking the time and putting in the effort and making my day!!  
> Now, without further ado, I hope you enjoy this next installment! You sure have waited long enough for it!  
> UPDATE!  
> The art is being difficult (meaning idk how to put it in) so I’ll be working on that. Thanks!

Cat Noir groaned internally as he leapt off of a lamp post, dodged another flaming dodgeball, and landed on top of a phonebooth. He tugged on his cat ears in embarrassment and cringed. He couldn’t help but glare at his own feet. Of course he had to transform himself in the most dramatic way possible! Of  _ course _ he couldn’t have done something normal and low key! Instead, he just  _ had _ to jump out of a smoking building, screaming like a maniac! Cat Noir could literally feel his insides squirming in embarrassment. Even the sun must have felt embarressed by him; it hid behind thick rain clouds that had begun gathering earlier in the day.

“Let’s not waste time, Cat Noir! Give me your miraculous!” The akuma yelled, lobbing another dodgeball at the hero. Cat Noir crouched slightly to avoid it. He groaned aloud, struggling to keep his footing on the roof of the phonebooth.

“Okay, buddy,” Cat Noir called, sizing up the akuma for the first time since he arrived at the scene. The self-proclaimed “Meteor” was bigger, bulkier, and more muscular than most of the akumas he had fought before. He looked almost exactly like the American comic book character, Juggernaut, except decked out in orange. Instead of a massive helmet, the akuma wore an outrageous pair of purple goggles, displaying a shock of orange hair atop his head. A small forcefield surrounded the akuma. Meteor’s arms and legs were spread, as if to hold the forcefield in place. Even the forcefield had a fait orange tint; apparently, this guy couldn’t get enough of the color.

“I’m going to be completely honest with you.” Cat Noir continued, hopping off of the phonebooth as yet another dodgeball came hurtling at him. Thankfully most civilians had cleared the streets, or were hiding inside buildings, so nobody would likely get hurt. “I’m not really in the mood for a fight today. I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I’ve kind of just messed up the biggest moment of my life.” 

Meteor, who had brought back his massive arm to throw another dodgeball, hesitated. He let his arms fall to his side. The forcefield flickered and disappeared. “So… you want to just give me your miraculous so we can be done?” His dull eyes brightened with excitement. “Really?”

Cat Noir nearly facepalmed. “Wha- no! I’m asking you to give in! Look-” the hero sighed. He removed his staff from his back and swung it slightly as he paced back and forth in the street. Cat Noir could feel the gaze of Meteor almost fifty feet away. “We all know that the good guys win in the end. Hawk Moth has tried the same stupid plot over and over and over again, and it hasn’t worked. Ever. So why don’t you just give me your akumatized object so you can go home, I can go home, and we let this day come to an end? Obviously you’ve had a bad day too, being akumatized and all.”

Meteor opened his mouth to respond, but couldn’t say anything in opposition. He nodded thoughtfully, his lips pursed slightly. Cat Noir had to hide a snicker and eye roll; the dumb akumas were always the fun ones.

“I’m guessing the akuma is in those snazzy looking goggles you have there.” Cat Noir stopped his pacing and planted his staff in the ground. He gestured to Meteor’s purple goggles. The akuma’s hands shot to his face to clutch the head strap of the goggles protectively. The forcefield sprang back to life.

_ Interesting… _ Cat Noir thought, his mind racing.  _ The forcefield only works when both of his arms are raised above his neck… This could work until Ladybug shows up! _ Cat Noir felt a slight pang in his heart at the last thought. He still didn’t know if she would be showing up. He hadn’t left the school too long ago; probably only five minutes at the most. Was she going to stay and help people get to safety, or come as soon as she could to help him take care of the akuma? What if she didn’t show up at all?

“No! You can’t have my goggles!” Meteor cried, a frenzied look in his eye. He clenched his fist, and when he opened it, another flaming dodgeball had materialized in his palm. The akuma drew back his fist and threw the ball as hard as he could. Cat Noir extended his staff quickly, propelling himself into the crisp, rain scented air. He landed on a rooftop, only to scramble away to avoid the rapid succession of flaming dodgeballs flying at him at hundreds of miles an hour. 

The dumb ones also tended to be temperamental and destructive. Not as fun.

Sprinting on all fours, Cat Noir heard a startled scream. Whipping around, he skidded to a halt to see Alya hanging on to a lamp post by the tip of her fingers, her phone held tightly in her mouth. “Cat Noir!” She shrieked through her grinded teeth, her grip loosening.

“Alya!” Cat Noir shouted, fear chilling his blood . Hurdling over smoldering craters and still flaming dodgeballs, Cat Noir reached her just in time to catch her as she fell. Gathering her up in his arms, the cat themed hero turned tail and dashed for the safety of a nearby alley.

“Alya! What are you doing here?!” Cat Noir demanded the second he set her down safely. 

Alya shrugged and brushed the front of her shirt with relief. “Amh wah raforfor!”

Cat Noir pointed at Alya’s phone, still held safely in the girl’s mouth. “Um?”

Alya looked down at her mouth. “Oh. Roigt.” She spat the phone into her hands. Cat Noir couldn’t help feeling bad for the poor phone; Alya cleaned saliva off of it as if this was a daily occurance. She quickly turned on a live stream and continued,  “I’m a reporter. Where the hero goes, I go!”

Tearing his disgusted gaze off of the phone, Cat Noir turned his focus back to his friend. “But how did you get out of the school? The last time I checked it had been hit with a fireball!”

Alya’s eyes brightened. “Ladybug was there when I woke up! She had already taken most of the people in my class to another classroom, I think. She said she had to go check on a few other classrooms, so she left me and a few of my classmates in charge of making sure people weren’t hurt and woke up alright. Then she bolted out of the door.”

“So you?”

Alya grinned proudly. “Dumped the job on my boyfriend and ran as quickly as I could to the fight scene.”

Cat Noir couldn’t tell which feeling was more prominent; relief that Ladybug was coming to help, or dread that  _ Ladybug _ was coming to help.

Shouting in the distance snapped Cat Noir back to the present. He held his staff at the ready and ran to the opening of the alley, then turned around as a thought struck him. “I know there isn’t any point in telling you to go home or anywhere even  _ remotely _ safe-”

“There isn’t!”

“So I’m just going to ask that you try not to get yourself killed and stay out of range of those  _ paw _ ful fireballs.” The teen couldn’t help throwing a wink over his shoulder. “Also, that you get pictures of my good side for your blog. I heard that it’s been nominated for a France Teen Choice Award! I’ll make sure my vote goes to a very good cause.”

Smirking at her excited squeals, he extended his pole and launched himself into the darkening sky, pole vaulting himself in the direction of the action. 

 

Meteor apparently didn’t like to move much, because he was still in the same place Cat Noir had left him in, but facing the opposite direction. When the hero arrived at the scene, behind Meteor’s back, everything looked completely different.

The road, sidewalk, and surrounding buildings were peppered with smouldering craters and flaming dodgeballs. Civilians streamed out of their houses, avoiding holes and small fires. One flaming apartment complex in particular was being evacuated as quickly as possible. Ladybug stood much further down the road, drawing the akuma’s attention to herself so the civilians could flee behind him. Cat Noir quickly ducked behind an advertisement stand and wiped out his staff. He slid the screen out of his staff and quickly sent a message to Ladybug.

**CAT NOIR** : I have a plan. We have to get him somewhere he can’t raise his hands above his head.

Sliding the screen back up, Cat Noir stealthily crept from behind his spot by the advertisement stand. After pausing to help a few civilians take cover, he vaulted himself up to the rooftops. Hurdling chimneys, Cat Noir darted to the rooftop right next to where Meteor’s head was. He skidded to a halt, leaping over a chimney to crouch behind. He was so close to the akuma’s forcefield, he could practically hear the magic crackling. 

_ The force field probably had enough energy to power an entire city, _ Cat Noir couldn’t help thinking a shudder.  _ Touching that thing would be pawful _ …

He ducked his head out from behind the chimney slowly. Ladybug, who looked different for some reason, dodged one ball after another while…. Throwing insults at the akuma? She was too focused on not getting hit by a flaming dodgeball to check her yo-yo (which he couldn’t see anywhere, for some reason), so Cat Noir would have to find a way to rile the akuma up and distract him so they could finish the job as quickly as possible. Marinette was already dead on her feet for the majority of the day; dodging fireballs most likely weren’t helping. Cat Noir had to act fast to make sure his lady still had the energy to fight another day.

A terrible idea popped into his head. A risky, stupid, dumb idea. Usually an idea of that level of stupidity would be disregarded. But exhaustion clouded the blonde’s senses.

Of course he went for it.

As Meteor pulled back his arm to throw another dodgeball, Cat Noir took his opportunity. The second the force field was down, he threw himself over the chimney he crouched behind. Praying to the god of stupid ideas, Cat Noir sprinted on all fours to the edge of the building. He reached the edge and launched himself at the akuma’s head, slicing through the air. He reared back his arm midair and shouted, “CATACL-”

The akuma turned his head just in time to slap his hands over his goggles, milliseconds before Cat Noir could reach them. Unable to stop his momentum, Cat Noir snagged his foot on the side of the akuma’s massive head. In a blur of instinctual movement even  _ he _ couldn’t follow, Cat Noir ended up on the monster’s massive shoulders with a yelp.

The hero and villain made eye contact for a brief, still moment.

“Uh…. Hello?” Cat Noir waved a few fingers at the akuma, noting he was terrifically and utterly screwed.

“What- get off of me, little cat man!” Meteor shouted in indignance. He raised his hands, swatting at Cat Noir. As his enormous hands rose, so did the forcefield; Cat Noir was trapped. The hero desperately clung on for dear life, doing his best not to touch any part of the forcefield circle… and trying not to think about how stupid he looked just about then.

Good thing he had told Alya to take tons of terrific pictures.

“LADYBUG!” He shouted, trying to avoid biting his tongue off as he was thrown around. “CHECK! YO-YO!”

There wasn’t any way of telling if she got the message, and now that he was trapped, no way of knowing if his plan would still work. So, he did the next best thing.

“CATACLYSM!” 

It would have been more helpful to use his staff, but seeing as he was trapped in close quarters and surrounded by electricity, up close fighting seemed like a pretty good idea. Cat Noir’s fist bubbled with destructive energy. The rush of adrenaline he always felt when he called his power helped him focus; thankfully, ultra focus was a side effect of having a destructive power such as cataclysm. Things would have gone bad a long time ago if he had accidentally slipped or hit something wrong with his cataclysm. Not that he liked to think of that, anyway.

“GET! OFF! OF! ME!” Meteor cried, pounding his arms up and down in an attempt to rid himself of the cat themed superhero, who hung tightly to his back. The forcefield flickered on and off, making it impossible for Cat Noir to leap to safety.

Cat Noir cradled his hand to his chest, looking for the perfect moment to strike. Meteor’s hand swung backwards. Cat Noir made to leap on top of the hand. He would have made it, if not for Ladybug’s terrified scream.

“CAT NOIR! GET OUT OF THERE!”

Cat Noir swung his head in the direction of his lady’s voice. He flailed his arms out instinctively, his instincutal desire to find and protect his partner overwhelming. He  _ never _ heard that level of terror in her voice. Meteor’s arm swung at him from the side during his distraction. Cat Noir’s flailing arm hit one of the akuma’s gloves with his cataclysm. The glove turned black and crumbled, leaving the cat themed hero completely defenseless.

Welp. So much for ultra focus. 

Thanks a lot, Plagg.

There were no options left. He had to go straight for the goggles. He could try and throw them to Ladybug before she would have to come any closer, and before Meteor could cause any more destruction. 

“MILADY!” He shouted.

“CAT NOIR ,YOU CRAZY IDIOT!” Ladybug shouted back. A small smirk tugged at the corners of Cat Noir’s mouth.

_ Love you, too! _ He refrained from saying. “GET READY!” He shouted instead. Cat Noir could hear the dread in her voice as she responded:

“DON’T YOU DARE-”

Cat Noir threw himself upward, using his staff to propel himself at the goggles, his claws outstretched. He snagged them on the tips of his claws, yanking them off the akuma’s massive head. He barely had a spare second to feel triumphant before he crashed headfirst into the top of the crackling orange forcefield.

Everything froze. His entire body tensed and numbed at the same time. Every pore, every vein and every limb seized with electricity. Cat Noir could almost hear the akuma roaring in anger and Ladybug screaming in terror before he hit the ground and everything went black.

 

 

Ladybug was  _ not _ in a good mood when she left Alya at the school. Why? She wasn’t exactly sure. Maybe seeing one of her best friends (whom she just so happened to have a tinsy crush on) leaping out of a window, transforming into another one of her bestfriends (whom she just so happened to be very much in love with), and pole vaulting away was the cause of her attitude. Maybe it was her lack of sleep? Or the plethora of akuma attacks in the recent week? Either way, Ladybug was  _ not _ in the mood to prance around like a combat ballerina, dodging flaming dodgeballs.

“Cat Noir!” Ladybug groaned to herself, flipping over another dodgeball. “Where are you?!” 

“Give up your miraculous!” Meteor yelled. Ladybug had to refrain from face palming. 

“No thanks, I think I’m good!” She called, her voice dripping with annoyance. 

“Then I’ll take it myself!” The akuma cried, unleashing a rapid fire of flaming dodgeballs at the spotted heroine.

Ladybug leapt straight up, dodging the fireballs with a flip. A sudden movement behind Meteor drew her attention as she landed. The top floor of a building was up in flame. Citizens ran shouting from the exits.

Ladybug was about to leap to the citizen’s aid when a fireball skimmed the back of her head. A searing pain blistered her skin. Gasping, she threw herself on the ground.  _ Stop, drop, and roll! Stop, drop, and roll! _ raced through her panicking mind. Meteor wound up to throw another flameball but faltered, roaring with laughter. Ladybug summersaulted away, narrowly avoiding a crater, and slammed behind a small advertisement board. 

“What did you do?!” She groaned to herself. Ladybug felt around the back of her head, which was feeling scarily light. After a second of groping, her hands froze. Confusion turned to rage. She screamed aloud.

“HEY!” She cried in indignation. She clambered on top of the advertisement where Meteor could see her. “YOU BURNED OFF MY PIGTAILS!”

Ladybug lept at the villian, who was still guffawing, with a vengance. The akuma’s shields were down, so she had a perfect shot at his goggles. She snatched her yo-yo from her hip mid-step and flung her arm forward. The yo-yo zipped through the air, closer and closer to it’s target-

Meteor looked up just in time to throw up his arms, reenacting his forcefield. The field sprung alive, just in time to slice through the yo-yo string, sending the disk of the yo-yo clattering at Meteor’s feet.

For a second, everything went silent. Ladybug stumbled to a halt. The heroine’s vision focused in on her signature weapon, her greatest tool, and her only defense.

_ Well. _ She realized with a blink.  _ I’m screwed. _

A purple butterfly mask appeared in front of Meteor’s face, no doubt Hawkmoth congratulating the akuma. When it disapeared, Meteor smirked.

“Well, well, well. I guess I’ll be taking  _ this _ ,” he scooped up the broken yo-yo and slid it into a side pocket, “and keeping it safe until you give me you’re miraculous!”

Ladybug clenched her teeth and growled. “You’ll never win! You and Hawkmoth will  _ never- _ ”

“Oh, shut up, little bug. You’re no fun anymore.” Meteor waved a dismissive hand at her. “Maybe those houses over there would be better targets…” He turned towards the buildings, where civillians were still stumbling out.

A surge of rage roared through the dark haired girl. 

“The people of Paris are under my protection!” Ladybug screamed. She hoped she looked extra threatening with, even without her beloved pigtails. An idea suddenly popped into her head. An extremely Cat Noir-ish idea. She smirked. “Besides. It’s not like I’d fight you anyways.”

Meteor stopped. His smile froze, and fell slighlty in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Ladybug cocked her hip and looked up smugly. “I refuse to have a battle of wits with somebody who is unarmed!”

Meteor cocked his head, his face scrunched up in confusion. A few seconds passed. 

“Hey!” the akuma yelled, his massive nostrils flaring. Usually Ladybug wasn’t a very mean person at  _ all _ … but this guy had threatened her city  _ and _ broken her yo-yo. And besides! A distraction was a distraction, right?

“What? Did I say something that offended you?” Ladybug put her hands on her face and pouted innocently. “Well if I did, it was totally intentional!”

The words had barely left her mouth before she was dodging out of the way of another onslaught of dodgeballs. 

“I WILL SQUASH YOU, LITTLE BUG!” Meteor roared.

Ladybug tried to hide a smirk. Now she saw why Cat Noir did it; ticking off the akuma was kind of fun in a satisfying way.

“As an outsider, what is you’re perspective on intelligence?” Ladybug jeered. Meteor, who was about to lob another dodgeball at his enemy, paushed.

“...what?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, but I don’t have the time  _ or _ crayons to explain it to you right now!”

“I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! DIE!” Meteor threw one dodgeball after another, effectively wiping the smirk off of Ladybug’s face as she was sent scrambling to avoid the flaming dodgeballs.

A small black streak of movement momentarily caught her attention, but before she could take a good look another dodgeball was hurtling her way. Ladybug growled in frustration when one flew a little too close for comfort.

_ I can’t keep doing this forever! _ She thought in annoyance, desperatly trying to ignore the sore aching in her feet. The suit did a pretty good job of building her endurance, strength, and tolerance to pain, but that was  _ in _ the suit; injuries attained outside the suit kept on hurting, and after everything that had happened in the past week? She was more sore then she had ever been in her entire life.  _ I need my lucky charm, but I can’t stop jumping! The dodgeballs are coming too quickly! I need some type of distraction, something like a- _

“CATACL-”

Ladybug instinctually summersaulted to the side as quickly as she could, rolling behind a bench on the sidewalk. Throwing herself from the summersault to a crouch, she pivoted to see Cat Noir atop Meteor’s shoulders, his wide green eyes locked with the akuma’s. He waved a few fingers at the villian.

“What- get off of me, little cat man!” Meteor shouted. But Ladybug’s partner couldn’t; he was trapped inside of the forcefield.

“YOU STUPID CAT! GET OUT OF THERE!” Ladybug shrieked, sprinting towards the forcefield, where Cat Noir was barely hanging on to the rampaging akuma’s shoulders. She skidded to a halt when a sudden thought struck her mind.

_ Right. No yo-yo. Huh _ .

The red-clad heroine had no choice but to pace helplessly, scanning the streets for something,  _ anything _ that could help her partner and defeat the akuma.

“LADYBUG!” Cat Noir shouted in a strangled tone. Ladybug whipped her head around. “CHECK! YO-YO!”

“I KIND OF CAN’T!” She bellowed back in annoyance, but he probably couldn’t hear her from inside the thrashing akuma’s forcefield. With a sense of dread, Ladybug watched Cat Noir summon a cataclysm. Black energy bubbled in his fist.

_ What is he gonna do with that?! There isn’t any room for him to… _ Ladybug’s frenzied thinking trailed off as the akuma began flailing even harder.

“GET! OFF! OF! ME!” Metero roared, the orange forcefield flickering on and off as he raised and lowered his armsaround him, making Ladybug’s head hurt.

_ He doesn’t have any room to use his cataclysm! He’s going to hit himself instead! _

“CAT NOIR!” Ladybug screamed, terror making her voice squeaky. “GET OUT OF THERE!”

She let out a gasp then clamped a hand over her mouth; Cat Noir’s head swivled around to find her just as Meteor’s big gloved hand swung around to pummel her partner. Cat Noir’s cataclysm instead collided with the akuma’s orange glove. Ladybug’s heart thudded with relief for a moment, before realizing that her partner was still trapped. Cat Noir’s eyes widened in disbelief, then contemplation, then a grim understanding. He grabbed his staff from his it’s place on his back. 

“MILADY!” He called, still dodging mad swipes from the akuma.

“CAT NOIR, YOU CRAZY IDIOT!” Ladybug shouted back. She could just barely see the small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“GET READY!” He bellowed. 

Ladybug’s heart dropped as she watched his strong muscles tense to jump.

“DON’T YOU DARE-”

Cat Noir threw himself upward, using his staff to propel himself at the goggles, his claws outstretched. He snagged them on the tips of his claws, yanking them off the akuma’s massive head. His grip had barely tightened on the goggles when he slammed into the top of the forcefield head first.

Ladybug couldn’t breath. Any breath she tried taking wouldn’t come. Her vision narrowed. A buzz filled her ears, ringing and ringing and making her dizzy. All she could do was watch Cat Noir, the boy she loved, her partner, her kitty plummet to the ground, crashing into a crumpled heap on impact.

All at once her breath came back, hitting her lungs with the power of a sledgehammer. She stumbled forward.

“NO!”

Meteor had also collapsed when his goggles hit the forcefield, his large limbs splayed out on the road. The goggles lay cracked in Cat Noir’s hands. A glowing black and purple butterfly emerged from the broken goggles. It flapped it’s wings in confusion, as if the electric shock had rattled it’s ability to fly. Ladybug’s superhero insticts kicked in. She lunged toward the akuma’s boot, not even hesitating to reach in and grab her broken yo-yo. 

“Umm…” Ladybug looked around for a tool that would fix her yoyo, but gave up quickly. Instead, she threw her broken yoyo into the air and cried, “MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!”

With an explosion of red light and a flurry of ladybugs, the little magical bugs swept over Paris, fixing damage. The yoyo landed back in Ladybug’s hand, completely fixed. Normally this would have been the best of news, but this time, there were bigger problems to think of;

Cat Noir was still lying unconsious on the ground, and the akuma was flying further and further away.

Ladybug threw her newly fixed yo-yo at the butterfly. “No more evil doing for you, you stupid piece of butterfly trash.” She growled harshly, snatching the butterfly out of the air and cleansing it quickly. The second the insect was out of her yo-yo, she lunged at her partner.

“Cat Noir!” Ladybug cried, fear surging through her. She threw herself on her knees by his side, where he still clutched the pair of goggles. The un-akumatized Meteor sat up slowly, dazed. His scrawny limbs, orange curly hair, and freckled face paled as he looked around himself in confusion.

Ladybug checked her partner for a pulse. She couldn’t feel anything. A few drops of water landed on her hand. She looked up at the sky, still not taking her hand off of her partner’s neck and shoulder; the clouds that had been darkening all day  began to rumble. More and more raindrops fell until a steady drizzle had settled. 

“Come on, kitty!” She whispered to the unconsious teenager. 

He didn’t move. He lay stiffly in Ladybug’s arms, his legs splayed in front of him, unresponsive to the world. Raindrops made his golden blonde hair stuck to his face in spikes.

Frustration and desperation threatened to overwhelm Ladybug’s senses.

A whine grew in her throat. “No, no, no, no! This is  _ not _ how this is gonna end, do you hear me?!” She said hoarsley to him, fighting to keep down tears. They came out anyway. “Not after everything we’ve been through! Not everything you put me through today, you stupid cat!”

Cat Noir lay motionless still.

“I just found you! I can’t…” Ladybug pressed her forehead to his, her tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. “I can’t…. I…  _ can’t _ -”

She desolved into tears, sobs racking her body as she burried her face in his shoulder. She didn’t know what to do. Nothing made sense. No way was her Cat Noir, her Adrien, her  _ kitty _ … no way was he… she didn’t even want to think about it. But still, it wasn’t possible that he could be….?

Ladybug burried her face deeper into his shoulder. Her ears brushed his neck. The backs of her earrings pressed into her ears painfully, but what did she care? Hawkmoth had won. He had taken her partner from her. The boy she loved was gone. Hawkmoth didn’t have the miraculous, but he had won all the same-

_ Thump _ .

Ladybug froze. She blinked.  _ What was that? _

_ Thump. Thump _ .

Ladybug pulled back to look at her partner’s face. He was still out cold, but-

_ Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump- _

His heart was beating again, rapidly pounding in his chest. It sounded as if he had been hooked up to an engine set on full power.

Ladybug let out a sob. She hugged him to her again, laughing in relief, holding him tighter than she ever had before, because  _ he was still alive! _

The sound of Cat Noir’s miraculous beeping snapped her from her joy, forcicng her to snap back to reality; he had minutes before he detransformed. Thunder boomed in the clouds. The rain had thickened from a drizzle to a full out down pour.

“Alright, Ladybug. Focus!” She chided herself, but she didn’t feel too guilty, because Cat Noir was alive! “The rain is picking up,” she said aloud, “so we have to get Cat Noir somewhere warm and dry… Somewhere he can heal and detransform without being seen…”

A location appeared in her head. After a momen’t consideration, Ladybug nodded to herself.  _ That’ll work _ .

Ladybug scooped Cat Noir into her arms, holding him bridal style. She was about to turn when she heard an awkward cough behind her. She turned to see the akuma victim, looking scared and small in his drenched t-shirt and jeans. He couldn’t have been more then twelve years old. 

“Um… what’s happening?” The boy asked hesitantly, as if he knew how inconvinient the question could have been at the time.

“You were akumatized, but don’t worry, you’re okay now. Can you get home by you’re self?” 

“Yes, I can. I just-” The boy wavered when he tried to stand. He balanced on his feet for a wobbly second before collapsing again. “No. Unless I crawl…” The boy looked helplessly at the heroine, an apologetic frown on his face. Ladybug tried to mask her frustration.

_ I need to get Cat Noir to safety, but the akuma victim still needs me…  _

An idea popped in to the heroine’s head. “ALYA! GET OUT HERE!” Ladybug yelled, politeness be darned. Alya quickly scrambled out from behind a bush and ran up to her hero’s side. The reporter was soaked from head to two, as if she had taken a dive in a fountain. Her phone was out, sticking out of her front pocket with a live stream on. 

“Yes, Ladybug?” Alya asked innocently.

“Get this young man to the hospital, the police, anywhere.” The heroine nodded curtly toward the teenager, who looked horrified. The boy pointed at Cat Noir’s form in Ladybug’s arms and muttered, “Did  _ I _ do that?!”

Alya nodded immedieatly. “Right away! Need any help with Cat Noir?” The reporter’s eyes weren’t gleamming like they did whenever she was looking for the next biggest scoop. She was offering her genuine help.

Ladybug grinned faintly. “The biggest help you could be is to help that young man over there.”

Alya smiled back and nodded. She rested a hand on Ladybug’s shoulder. “Let me know if you need anything. I hope he’s okay.”

Ladybug bit her lip, letting her partner’s heartbeat reassure her.

“I hope he is too.”

Ladybug turned tail and leapt through the streets, over a building, and out of sight with her precious cargo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! So that happened.... Sorry for the cliffhanger and TWO MONTH hiatus, I really wanted to get this done but life has bee insane for the past couple of months. Highschool is no fun! Anyway, thank you for reading, I hope you like this chapter! Hopefully the cliffhanger on this one isn't so bad, since it may be until December until I finish it! Meanwhile, WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT THE QUEEN BEE TRILOGY?! AND HERO DAY?!?! AAHHH?!?!  
> Remember to leave a comment with feedback! It really helps motivate me and help me grow as a writer!

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah this is incomplete but this was my first ever fanfiction idea, I've had it floating around for a while. Sorry for typos, writing on a kindle is a lot harder than I thought... even with a cheapy 10 dollar keyboard add on. Yay, summer writers block!
> 
>  
> 
> ps. sorry for weird formatting, this tablet is being weird. leave a comment, hope you liked it!


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